Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Security services in Mogadishu have seen a new wave of defections from the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab, men who can provide valuable information or scouting services for the police, military and intelligence service.
Though some defectors have proved to be double agents who carry out close-range attacks, the government is still cooperating with defectors for the valuable insider information that the honest ones bring.
Abdirahman Omar Osman, the spokesman of the Somali president, said former al-Shabab fighters are "not easily trusted" and must go through a rehabilitation process in order to work with the government.
Abdi Aynte, the head of a think tank in Mogadishu, said there is no doubt defectors have been valuable to the government, but that stronger background checks are needed to prevent infiltration.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
