SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Zakariya Ismail Hersi, Al-Shabab’s intelligence chief who defected in December 2014, said: “I can confirm that as of today I am no longer a member of Al-Shabaab and I have renounced violence as a means of resolving conflict and I will aim to achieve my goals towards peaceful means, and through reconciliation and understanding.”
According to AFP, Hersi spoke to reporters from the information ministry in the capital Mogadishu. In a statement the Somali government said, it had offered surrendering fighters the “opportunity to reintegrate with Somali society, and guarantees their safety”.
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