Somalia lures defectors in new push against insurgents
Al-Shabaab recruits stage a military drill in Somalia on February 17, 2011. Many defectors are working alongside the government they once fought. PHOTO | ABDURASHID ABDULLE | AFP
As an undercover operative for Somalia’s al Shabaab militia, Nasteh spied on the insurgent group’s senior commanders to ensure their loyalty and planned bombings and assassinations in government-controlled territory.
But late last year, the government officials he once hunted became his handlers after the 26-year-old joined a slowly growing stream of defectors to the UN-backed Somali administration.
