Somalia names former al-Shabab spokesperson as religion minister

The co-founder and former spokesperson for al-Shabab has been under house arrest since 2018.

Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre has named the country’s new cabinet, choosing former al-Shabab spokesperson Muktar Robow as a minister, a move that could either help strengthen the fight against the insurgency or provoke clan clashes.

In televised remarks on Tuesday, Barre said Robow, who once had a $5m United States bounty on his head before he split from al-Shabab in 2013, would serve…