 In December 2009, Sheikh Ali Hassan Gheddi, who at the time served as Deputy Commander in-Chief of al-Shabaab militants in the Middle Shabele region, also defected to the government, indicating that "al-Shabaab's cruelty against the people is what forced me to defect to the government side.They extort money from the people and deal with them against the teaching of Islam".Another reason he gave for defecting was al-Shabaab's then prohibition on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) because he felt that it directly affects civilians.