The Aweys Dilemma

The Financial Times reports on the dilemma facing Somali officials -- and by extension, U.S. policymakers -- now that al-Shabaab's spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is in custody.

Although Aweys has been listed by both the US and the UN as a terrorist since 2001 for his alleged role in suicide bombings and terror attacks in the Horn of Africa, it is not readily apparent that he should be turned over to international authorities, as his fate may influence whether key Somali clans reignite their struggle against the Somali government, and whether or not other potential pragmatists in al-Shabaab who were pushed out by the group's hardline leader Ahmed Abdi Godane come in from the cold, potentially further isolating the extremist movement.