Mogadishu, March 1. The United States has offered a reward of up to five million dollars for information leading to the arrest of Somalian Ali Mohamed Rage, spokesman for the jihadist group Al Shabab, which seeks to overthrow the Somali government.
According to a statement from the State Department, this payment offered on Tuesday is intended to “obtain information leading to the identification or location” of Rage, also known as Ali Dheere.
This jihadist, he stressed, “has been the main spokesperson for Al Shabab since May 2009 and is a senior official of the terrorist organization”.
Washington has accused Rage, who was born in the Hawlwadag district of Mogadicius in 1966, of being involved in planning attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya.
On August 6, 2021, the State Department had already designated this jihadist leader as a “specially designated global terrorist”, allowing authorities to seize his assets and prohibit financial transactions with him.
On February 18, 2022, the United Nations Security Council’s Somalia Sanctions Committee added Rage to its sanctions list for participating in or supporting “acts that threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia”.
Al Shabab often carries out attacks in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of Somalia to overthrow the central government – backed by the international community – and establish an Islamic state that is Wahhabi (ultra-conservative) in nature.
The jihadist group controls rural areas in central and southern Somalia and also attacks neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Somali army fights Al Shabab, backed by the force of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and, on occasion, by international partners such as the United States, which often provide support air force in counter-terrorist offensives.
Somalia has lived in a state of war and chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown, leaving the country without an effective government and in the hands of Islamist militias and warlords. EFE
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