Top Somali Islamist surrenders in Kenya (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Top Somali Islamist surrenders in Kenya

By C. Bryson Hull

1 hour, 12 minutes ago

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was under guard
in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Monday after being taken into custody on the
Somali border, officials said.

Ahmed is the highest-ranking member of the former Somali Islamist rulers to turn
himself in after a late December blitz by Ethiopian and Somali interim government
troops routed them from southern Somalia.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Kenyan authorities had Ahmed
in custody: "I think they are dealing with him as a refugee at this point."

-snip-

Ahmed is considered a moderate in the Islamist movement and before the war was
among those the United States said should be involved in reconciliation talks
in Somalia. He met U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger in September.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070122/wl_nm/somalia_conflict_dc_161