Former Alshabaab leader Hassan Dahir Aweys has for the first time spoken publicly about the defection of Deputy leader Mukhatr Ali Robow Abu Mansoor from the militant group in which both were vital in its establishment.
Aweys has defended Robows decision to ditch the Alqaeda linked group in a video released on Wednesday.
“The thruth is you are unappreciative entity. Mukhtar  Robow helped start this work and you have betrayed him.Poeple are to be protected but the people have are now realized that you are the enemy” Aweys said in the video.
“You label those who oppose you as apostates or they have talked to the infidels. But am telling you to treat poeple with dignity and stop the acts you do.” he added.
This is the first time that Aweys is directly confronting Alshabaab since he fled from the group in June 2013.
He was to flee AlShabaab after he fell out with the leader Ahmed Godane when he backed Robow in a power struggle between the two.
Aweys has been under house arrest in Mogadishu in the last six years.
