(SomaliNet) The recently detained top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was on Friday released from Kenya and reported to be leaving soon for Yemen. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is viewed by the United States (US) government in Washington as a potential key to reconciliation in post-war in Somalia. “It’s true that I’m heading to Yemen,” Sheikh Sharif was quoted as saying on the Web site of the London-based ONKOD news agency, which is run by a Somali journalist. The Somali Islamist told the press from his location in Kenyan capital Nairobi that he was in good health but declined to confirm his future plans. “I am 100 per cent fine,” he said. “But there are no questions I can answer at this time.”
Ahmed is the highest-ranking Islamist leader to turn himself in after defeat in a war over the New Year. Meanwhile, several Islamist leaders have taken refuge in Yemen since their movementÂ’s defeat over the New Year in an offensive by Somali government forces backed by the Ethiopian military. Sheikh Ahmed was one of the two main leaders of the movement that took Somali capital Mogadishu in June last year and ruled a swathe of south Somalia until the end of the year.