Jowhar,(insidesomalia.org)- The defence secretary of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia [ARS], Sheikh Yusuf Muhammad Siyad, aka Indha Adde, has for the first time held a media conference in Mogadishu this afternoon.

The ARS's defence secretary strongly denied accusation levelled against him by maritime organizations in the Horn Africa, that he was involved in piracy along the Somali coast. He described the accusation against him as fabrication.

"I was never involved in piracy" said Indha Adde, adding that he was in involved in fighting pirates. He accused Puntland regional administration of being behind the piracy along the Somali coast.

On the other hand, Indha Adde made it clear that he was not a member of Al-Shabab Islamic Movement, a group involved in Somali fighting. However, he said that they share the idea of fighting foreign troops in the country.

This is the first time that Indha Adde held live media conference in Mogadishu, since the Ethiopian troops entered Somalia and ousted the Union of Islamic Courts administration in 2006.

Indha Adde's remarks come following the head of the Mombasa-based Seafarers' Assistance Program, Andrew Mwangura, told that Inda'ade is now the new Islamist leader in Kismayo.

"Inda'ade is a member of al-Shabab, the one who has taken over Kismayo and is the most powerful person," Mwangura said.

Kismayo, a strategic southern port city that had been under the control of local clan militias, fell to the radical Islamist Shabab group last Friday after days of fighting that killed more than 70 people.

Mwangura, whose group has been involved in securing the release of 90 percent of the vessels hijacked by Somali pirates in recent years, says Inda'ade still controls a personal militia of about 200 fighters and pirates, and is involved in the trafficking of drugs and guns.

Somalis say the factional leader has long wanted control of Kismayo and its port, and may have seen an opportunity to take the city through the Shabab, an al-Qaida affiliated organization that has successfully re-established Islamist control in many parts of southern and central Somalia in recent months.

Mwangura says Inda'ade expanded his relationship with other established pirate groups, particularly in the northern Puntland region, and used his share of the ransom money to buy, among other things, weapons used in the Islamist battle for Kismayo.

"So, they are working together. Now, they see one way of getting money for terrorist activities (is) through gun-running and drug trafficking," Mwangura said. "Or maybe al-Shabab is using him because he has fire-power and heavy military equipment."

Piracy has been rampant in Somalia since factional leaders overthrew the government of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and plunged the country into a civil war.

It reached unprecedented levels last week, when pirates seized three vessels in one day. Seven ships and their crew are being held with ransom demands exceeding $1 million for each vessel.

Source: Shabelle Media Network