(HRNW) Somalia’s parliament has approved the appointment of a new cabinet that includes the former spokesman for the militant Islamist group al-Shabab, according to the state-owned news agency Sonna.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced Mukhtar Robow’s appointment as religious affairs minister on Tuesday.
He defected from al-Shabab in 2013, and the former government placed him under house arrest.
Some analysts saw his appointment as the new government’s attempt to wage an ideological war against al-Shabab.
Others interpreted it as condoning the crimes of the al-Qaeda affiliate, which has been fighting a brutal insurgency in Somalia for more than a decade.
The former al-Shabab spokesman is part of a cabinet of 25 ministers and 26 deputy ministers appointed by the prime minister following the election of a new president in Somalia earlier this year.
According to Sonna, the new cabinet was approved by 229 MPs, with seven voting against it and one abstaining.
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