2 leader of the al-Shabab extremist group, who has been a leading candidate for a regional presidency. The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia in a statement released overnight called for "utmost restraint" after the gunfire-fueled uproar around Muhktar Robow's arrest on Thursday in Baidoa, and it denied playing any role. His arrest is seen as a high-profile test of Somalia's treatment of defectors from the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, Africa's most active extremist group. Robow's arrest could re-ignite old tensions between Somalia and neighboring Ethiopia despite recent diplomatic breakthroughs in the Horn of Africa sparked by Ethiopia's reformist new prime minister. Somalia's security ministry confirmed Robow's arrest, citing the federal government's earlier ban on his candidacy, which said he had not completed the defection process.

Source: Ethiopian News December 15, 2018 06:05 UTC