Abukar Omar Adan

Abukar Omar Aden, 72, was charged along with his son, Omar Abukar Omar, who was a finance official for the routed Islamists. The son said he had a visa for Kenya and denied being in Kenya illegally.





Abukar Omar Adan was a devoutly Islamic and heavily armed clan elder with ties to the strict neighborhood religious courts that had brought a semblance of order to a city without a government.

(Picture from Gulf Times)

from Mogadishu's elite Abgal sub-clan





Adan, who ships commodities such as sugar and building materials to Somalia, would stay in Djibouti.

Abukar Omar Adan Changes Sides, Supports the Somali Government

Sun 9 Sep 2007, 15:39 GMT

DJIBOUTI, Sept 9 (Reuters) - A Somali businessman who financed the ousted Islamic Courts said on Sunday he had cut ties with the group after meeting Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.

Gedi had flown to Djibouti to ask businessman Abukar Omar Adan to use his influence to encourage armed remnants of the movement to accept a government amnesty.

"I am not anymore with the Islamic Courts," Adan told reporters after meeting Gedi amid tight security at a Djibouti hotel. He did not elaborate.

Gedi's interim government is struggling to impose its authority on the Horn of Africa nation, which has been in chaos since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Adan surrendered to the authorities in neighbouring Kenya after Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and warplanes routed the Islamists from Mogadishu over the New Year.

Adan admitted being in Kenya illegally, but in February an immigration case against him was dropped without explanation.

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