Day: September 6, 2021

Mogadishu Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed Hussein Roble sacked chief of National Intelligence and Security Agency, Fahad Yasin and appointed new interim chief for Bashir Mohamud Jama’ in a decree, SONNA reported Monday.

The move came as the report on the killing of the security agent, Ikran Tahlil Farah from the Intelligence Agency was unsatisfactory and the Prime Minister asked the agency to bring full details of the case within 48 hours and did not get proper reply according to the decree from the office of the Prime Minister.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Mogadishu President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo on Monday instructed chief of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, Fahad Yasin to resume his duty, indicating the Prime Minister’s sacking to be unconstitutional, SONNA reported.

The President commanded the Intelligence Agency to bring the awaited report about the killing of Ikran Tahlil Farah to the national security council when given a time line.

President Farmajo also urged Prime Minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble and his council to discharge their responsibilities on completing electoral issues well.

This statement comes hours after the Somali Prime Minister fired National Intelligence Chief, Fahad Yasin and named new interim chief, Bashir Mohamud Jama’

Source: Somali National News Agency

Mogadishu Prime Minister of Somalia H.E Mohamed Hussain Roble instructed the the Prosecution and Military court to conduct an immediate and formal investigation into the case of Ikran Tahlil Farah, SONNA Reported.

At His office, PM Roble has met today on Sunday with the new Interim Chief of the National Security and Intelligence Agency, Chief of the military court and Banadir police force commander.

The Prime Minister commanded NISA’s New interim chief and the Banadir Security and Police Commanders to fully support the military court in order to perform its duties effectively , as there have been previous challenges reported by the commission in charge of Ikran’s case.

Source: Somali National News Agency

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA – Somalia’s prime minister suspended the intelligence chief on Monday, prompting a public rebuke from the president and highlighting growing divisions at the heart of the political elite.

Analysts said the suspension – triggered by a dispute over investigations into an unsolved murder – pointed to a deeper power struggle that could further destabilize a country already riven by militant attacks and clan rivalries.

Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble said he had told Fahad Yasin, the director of Somalia’s National Intelligence Service Agency (NISA), to step aside for failing to deliver a report on the murder of one of the agency’s agents.

Soon after, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed issued his own statement calling the prime minister’s move unconstitutional. “(Yasin) should continue being the director of NISA,” the president said.

Somalia’s police chief called an emergency security meeting on Monday, officers told Reuters on condition of anonymity without going into further details.

“This shows the rift between the president and the prime minister is fully in the open – something that had been bubbling beneath the surface for some time,” Mahmood Omar, Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Reuters.

“It could result in another security crisis as the president is telling Roble there are some clear red lines to what he will accept, while Roble interprets his authority differently. The danger is either side, … will try to impose their will on the other.”

‘Serious divisions’

The immediate cause for the dispute – the murder of the young female agent, Ikran Tahlil Farah, who worked in the cybersecurity department and went missing in late June – has been a highly contentious issue.

The government last week blamed the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab for her death, prompting scores of angry posts on social media from people who said the agency itself had been involved. Al-Shabaab took the unusual step of denying any involvement.

“This is a very serious issue,” said Rashid Abdi, a Nairobi-based independent analyst.

“It will most likely sow serious divisions within the security services and result in the type of violence we saw in April between the fragmented security forces.”

In April, factions of the security forces seized positions in the capital, angered by moves to extend the president’s four-year term by another two years, which the opposition said was part of a power grab.

That confrontation was resolved when the president put the prime minister in charge of security and organizing delayed indirect elections.

Voting for lawmakers by elders had been due to be completed this week, with the election of a speaker and swearing in of members of parliament happening next week – in time for them to pick a president on Oct. 10.

But in a separate development on Monday, voting for members of the lower house of parliament was rescheduled to late November, causing a further delay to the whole process.

Source: VOICE OF AMERICA

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA – Somalia’s president and prime minister were in a standoff Monday over the prime minister’s suspension of the country’s top spy chief.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble announced Monday morning that he is suspending Fahad Yassin, the director of NISA, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency.

Roble said he was acting because Yassin had failed to deliver a report on the killing of one of the agency’s spies, Ikran Tahlil Farah, who disappeared in June and was declared dead by NISA this month.

A few hours later Monday, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo rejected the prime minister’s action, saying he has no constitutional mandate to suspend the spy chief, and urged Yassin to continue in his role.

Security analyst Samira Ahmed of the Mogadishu-based Hiraal Institute said it would be helpful for an outside party to intervene to end the escalating political difference between the two highest offices.

If that does not happen, she said, there is a threat of division as the security forces will be obliged to choose between the conflicting orders. She said that would result in security threats to the country and the ongoing elections.

The mother of the slain officer, Qali Mohamud, welcomed the prime minister’s move to fire the spy chief and appealed to the president to support it.

She urged the president not to obstruct justice for her daughter by blocking the prime minister’s decision, and asked the head of state to put himself in her shoes, as a parent seeking justice for her child.

It’s nothing new for a Somali president and prime minister to be at odds over the powers of their respective offices.

Muse Ahmed, a law expert at Somali National University, believes there is a need for a clear separation of powers in the Somali draft constitution.

He said the absence of the constitutional court has complicated the recurrent political difference between the Somali president and his prime minister. He added that the appointing powers of the two leaders in the constitution is not clear. Therefore, he said, there is a need for a new chapter in the draft constitution to make clear the powers of the two, especially during government transitional periods.

The leaders of the opposition have welcomed the move by the prime minister to suspend the director of intelligence, saying it was long overdue. The director himself has not responded to the prime minister.

Source: VOICE OF AMERICA

A fresh political rift between Somalia’s president and prime minister appears to be opening a power struggle between the two top leaders of the country, which is struggling to hold elections and prevent frequent terrorist attacks.

On Monday, Somalia Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble suspended Fahad Yasin, chief of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), over failing to provide reliable evidence of investigations into the alleged killing of 24-year-old Ikran Tahlil Farah, who worked in NISA’s cybersecurity department.

NISA last week blamed the Islamist militant group al-Shabab for Ikran’s death, prompting angry and frustrated posts on social media from Ikran’s parents and opposition leaders, who say the agency itself had been involved.

In a statement published Friday on pro-al-Shabab websites, a spokesman for the group said al-Shabab knows nothing about Ikran’s alleged killing.

Roble’s move against the NISA chief has prompted a public rebuke from President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, who in a counter move hours after the prime minister’s decision, issued a directive reinstating the intelligence chief. Both men were citing constitutional articles to support their cases.

Roble said he suspended Fahad “for failing to deliver a report on the murder of one of the agency’s agents.”

In April, after anger and armed violence in the capital, Mogadishu, that followed Parliament’s move to extend the president’s four-year term by another two years, the confrontation was resolved when the president put the prime minister in charge of security and organizing long-delayed indirect elections.

Mohamed issued his own statement calling the prime minister’s move unconstitutional. “(Yasin) should continue being the director of NISA,” the president said.

Analysts say this latest rift is highlighting a growing division at the heart of the country’s political elite and threatens to put the country into a new political crisis.

“The political exercises of the president and the minister is clear evidence that there has been a growing mistrust and a power struggle between the two leaders,” Shoki Ahmed Hayir, a Somalia political analyst and professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, told VOA Somali.

“We know the prime minister took this decision to address a sensitive issue over the disappearance of a female intelligence officer that could plunge the country into political and security risks,” said Hussein Moalim Mohamud, Somalia’s former national security adviser.

Opposition leaders have welcomed Roble’s move to suspend Fahad, a former Al-Jazeera journalist, whom they believe to be a close friend of the president.

The new dispute followed months of political wrangling that have threatened to further destabilize a country already riven by militant attacks and clan rivalries.

Hayir believes the new power struggle between the president and the prime minister is threatening the country’s long-delayed upcoming elections.

“This is not only a political threat, but also a threat to the country’s future, including the possibility of holding elections. It is also a threat to a justice for the family of Ikran,” Hayir said.

“The problem is that there are contradicting and unclear chapters in the country’s draft federal provisional constitution over the powers of the president and the prime minister,” said Abdirahman Dhubad, a political and legal analyst in Mogadishu.

Source: VOICE OF AMERICA