MOGADISHU, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Somali security forces on Thursday arrested former al-Shabab deputy leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali who is a candidate for the office of the Southwest State in Baidoa town, officials said.
Ministry of internal security said Robow had deployed weapons in Baidoa town, noting that the former militant leader did not meet certain conditions of the agreement he had entered with the government.
"Mukhtar Robow deployed weapons and fighters to Baidoa town, he organized the army to threaten and destabilize the general security of the country, in particular, in Baidoa town and that shows that he did not get rid of the extremist ideology and intends to harm Somali people again," the ministry said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
According to the ministry, the government wanted the ex-al-Shabab leader not to take an action that damages the governance system and the federal member states.
Robow surrendered to the Somali government in August 2017 following protracted talks that led to his defection. He later stayed in Mogadishu's headquarter for National Intelligence and Security Agency for a year.
He was among regional state presidential candidates running for the elections slated for Dec. 19.
