MP – Big Internal Rifts Erupted Within Al Shabaab

Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)

9 July 2011

Mogadishu — Salad Ali Jelle, one of the members of Somali transitional federal parliament (TFP), has disclosed a big wrangle erupted within high ranking officials of Al shabaab.

The infighting and rift in the group, which the United States designated as a terrorist, started after it announced it had lifted the ban on aid agencies and allowed to operate in the regions they control, the MP told the local press.

Jelle warned the relief agencies not commence operating in Al shabaab controlled areas in easily way, saying that they could face bad consequences at the side of the security.

The Somali parliamentarian said the group is not dependable and reliable, adding that the international community is needed to help the government in its fighting against Al shabaab.

Last year, Al shabaab which is accused of having direct links to Al Qaeda, has banned mare than twenty international relief agencies from operating in south-central Somalia.

Al shabaab, which is a powerful Islamist movement, controls large swath in southern and central Somalia and intends to impose a hard version of Islamic Shari a law.

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