Somali cabinet to announce new spy chief after rift ended

Tahlil was NISA’s cybersecurity expert for three years and she was abducted on June 26 of this year. After months of her disappearance, the spy agency said last month she was killed by Al-Shabaab.

News Keydmedia Online
31 October 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somali cabinet is expected to hold an emergency session in the coming hours at Villa Somalia to endorse the appointment of a new spy boss.

Sources close to PM’s office revealed to Keydmedia English that there are three candidates on the table who are all Farmajo cronies, including Abdirahman Dhere.

Dhere who is a relative of ousted NISA director Fahad Yasin is currently serving as the state minister for public works and he was a former Al-Shabaab defector.

The other shortlisted nominees include Aden Qoryooley, Galmudug Communications Minister, and the state minister for presidency Hassan Moalim Khalif, Yasin’s relative.

The pending appointment comes just days after the rivalry between Farmajo and PM Roble over NISA control was resolved through dialogue mediated by the Southwest leader.

NISA is facing a leadership crisis after the PM sacked Fahad Yasin and replaced him with Bashir Goobe, an appointment that Farmajo has rejected as “unconstitutional”.

The dismissal came after the family of Ikran Tahlil filed a lawsuit in the military court to prosecute the killers of their daughter – Fahad Yasin, Yasin Farey, and Abdullahi Kulane.

Tahlil was NISA’s cybersecurity expert for three years and she was abducted on June 26 of this year. After months of her disappearance, the spy agency said last month she was killed by Al-Shabaab.

The terror group has distanced its self from the involvement in the murder, terming the NISA claims as a scapegoat charge that wanted to cover up the girl’s assassination that shook the nation.

KEYDMEDIA English