Fahad Yasin Haji Dahir

Fahad Yasin Haji Dahir, (aka Abu - Camaar),[4] commonly known only as Fahad Yasin, is a Somali civil servant and politician, as well as a former journalist. He was also the campaign manager for Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmaajo" in the 2017 elections. After the elections, he was appointed Chief of Staff for Villa Somalia and then Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA).[5][6][7] Farmaajo subsequently appointed him as his national security advisor.

Fahad Yasin Haji Dahir
Fahad Yasin Haji Dahir
Fahad Yasin Haji Dahir in Doha, 2021
National Security Adviser President of Somalia
In office
8 September 2021 – 24 May 2022
PresidentMohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
Preceded byAbdisaid Muse Ali
Succeeded byHussein Sheikh Moalim
Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency
In office
22 August 2019 – 8 September 2021
Prime MinisterMohamed Hussein Roble
Hassan Ali Khaire
DeputyAbdullahi Aden Kulane
Abas Ya'qub
Preceded byHussein Osman Hussein[1]
Succeeded byYasin Abdullahi Mohamud[2]
Deputy Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency
In office
16 August 2018 – 22 August 2019
Prime MinisterHassan Ali Khaire
Preceded byAbdulkadir Mohamed Nur
Abdalla Abdalla Mohamed
Succeeded byAbdullahi Aden Kulane[3]
Chief of Staff of Villa Somalia
In office
31 May 2017 – 16 August 2018
PresidentMohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
Preceded byAbukar Dahir Osman
Succeeded byAmina Sa'ed Ali
Personal details
Born (1978-07-19) 19 July 1978
NationalitySomali
OccupationSpy, bureaucrat, politician
Former journalist and imam

Background

According to his Somali and Kenyan documents, Yasin was born in Mandera, Kenya on 19 July 1978 to a family of the Reer Aw Xasan clan. His family members however claim that he was born in Beled Hawo, located in the Gedo region of Somalia. His father and mother divorced when he was four years old, and she moved with him to a slum in the Hawle Wadag District of Mogadishu. Yasin acquired his religious education from a series of madrasas.[8][9]

His mother later married Abdulkadir Gardheere, who was of the Marehan clan. After the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991, the family fled to Kenya due to their clan connections with Barre.[8] Yasin lived in the Utanga refugee camp for several years.[10] During this time he served as an imam in the Abu Dujana mosque. Later he moved to Nairobi, where his step-father had bought a restaurant, for religious studies. Gardheere was killed in 1997 by Ethiopian forces while fighting in Beled Hawo.[8] Yasin is said to have furthered his religious studies at El Iman University in Yemen[11] and in Pakistan.[12]

Both Yasin and his step-father[13] were members of the organization Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya,[14][15] an organization which was affiliated with Al-Qaeda and was based in Somalia.[16] According to Garowe Online, Yasin participated in battles in the 1990s in Gedo, Arare and Bosaso,[17] but "he was not a fighting soldier" according to BBC sources.[18]

Career in Journalism
Fahad Yasin reporting in Somalia

In the early 2000's he began writing for SomaliTalk,[19][20] a website which was then owned by Al-itihaad al Islamiya. Yasin was a critic of both the Abdiqasim and the Abdullahi Yusuf Transitional Federal Governments. At one point he interviewed TFG President Abdi Qasim Salad Hassan.

Yasin worked for Wadah Khanfar, the chief editor for Al Jazeera, as a religious tutor to his children,[8] before returning to Mogadishu to work as a journalist for Al Jazeera Arabic from 2005 to 2011. He interviewed Sheikh Hassan Turki, the leader of Ras Kamboni.[12] In 2014 he joined Jazeera Research Center.[21][22]

Political career

Yasin is said by some commentators to be involved in helping to get Hassan Sheikh Mohamud elected as the President of Somalia in the 2012 Somali presidential election, by securing money from Qatar that allowed him to buy enough votes for victory.[23][24][25] He rejected an appointment to the position of Minister of Ports and Marine Transport on 27 January 2015 by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.[26]

Yasin successfully led the election campaign for Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, alias Farmaajo, in the 2017 presidential election.[12]

Yasin successfully contested as a candidate from the HoP086 seat of Beledweyne in the 2021-2022 Somali parliamentary election. The Federal Electoral Implementation Team however declared his victory invalid and cancelled the election for irregularities.[27] The Supreme Court refused to intervene in the matter after Yasin appealed to it, stating that it had no jurisdiction over the issue.[28]

Somali Civil service

Chief of Staff at Villa Somalia

After winning the elections, Mohamed appointed Yasin to the position of the Chief of Staff for Villa Somalia on 31 May 2017, replacing Abukar Dahir Osman.[29] Yasin was replaced by Amina Sa'ed Ali on 16 August 2018.[30]

NISA

Mohamed appointed Yasin as deputy director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency on 16 August 2018 during a reshuffling of his security chiefs, replacing Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur[30] and Abdalla Abdalla Mohamed.[31] Yasin served as the acting head of the agency during ten months of his tenure. After the assassination of Abdirahman Omar Osman, the Mayor of Mogadishu, Farmaajo appointed Yasin as the head of NISA on 22 August 2019.[32]

Yasin appointed Abas Ya'qub as his new deputy director in July 2021 after the dismissal of Abdullahi Aden Kulane by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.[33]

According to Garowe Online, Yasin was one of the main co-ordinators behind the top-secret deployment of around 5,000 Somali military recruits to Eritrea, some of whom are said to have been sent to on to Ethiopia to fight in the Tigray war. The recruits themselves were falsely told that they were going for training in Qatar, and their families began a campaign for information as to their whereabouts, after over a year of no contact from them.[34]

In April 2021, Yasin travelled to Ethiopia to request that Ethiopian National Defense Force troops be deployed to Mogadishu, but the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed refused the request.[35]

On 6 September 2021, Roble suspended Yasin over a matter relating to the murder of Ikran Tahlil Farah, a NISA officer.[36] However, soon after Yasin's dismissal, Mohamed published a statement claiming the prime minister's actions to be unconstitutional, saying that Yasin should continue as the head of NISA.[36] Ikran's mother subsequently filed charges against Yasin for "orchestrating murder" at the Somali military court.[37] On 8 September, Villa Somalia announced that Yasin had resigned as head of NISA.[38]

National Security Advisor to the President

After Yasin's resignation from NISA, Mohamed immediately appointed him as his National Security Advisor, replacing Abdisaid Muse Ali.[38]

The office of Somalia's President on 17 September 2021, accused the government of Djibouti of illegally detaining his new National Security Advisor.[39] He was flying to Mogadishu from Turkey with a stop in Djibouti.[40] It emerged that Somali government officials had ordered that he be barred from traveling aboard any commercial airliner, due to which he was briefly detained in Djibouti and returned to Somalia aboard a private plane on 21 September 2021.[41]

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud replaced Yasin with Hussein Sheikh Moalim on 24 May 2022, a day after succeeding Farmaajo as President.[42]

References
  1. "Somalia: Intelligence chief quits to vie for presidency". Garowe Online. 13 October 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  2. "Somalia: NISA's new director appointed by Farmaajo assumes office". Horn Observer. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  3. "Agaasimaha NISA oo Dalka ka dhoofay & Ku-sime cusub oo loo magacaabay Hay'adda Sirdoonka [Akhriso Qoraal]". Goobjooge. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  4. "Somalia's Spy Chief and Deputy Chief of Staff in trouble over radio raid". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  5. "Somalia's intelligence chief worked with an al Qaeda affiliate, so why do we fund him?". American Enterprise Institute - AEI. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  6. "SOMALIA : Deputy intelligence director Fahad Yasin is UN sub-contractor in fight against Al Shabaab - 01/07/2019". Africa Intelligence. 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  7. "Somali premier suspends intelligence chief; president objects". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  8. "Somalia's intelligence chief worked with an al Qaeda affiliate, so why do we fund him?". Somali Times. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  9. Ali Muhiyaddiin (21 August 2018). "Kenya probs Somali official's multiple Kenyan passports". Caasimada Online. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  10. Rubin, Michael (2020-11-12). "Judge Countries by their Intelligence Chiefs, Not Diplomats". The National Interest. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  11. Bryden, Matt (2021-11-08). "MATT BRYDEN - Fake Fight: The Quiet Jihadist Takeover of Somalia | The Elephant". Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  12. "Fahad Yaasiin: Taliyaha awoodda badan ee aan wax badan laga ogeyn". BBC News Somali (in Somali). Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  13. "Somalia's intelligence chief worked with an al Qaeda affiliate, so why do we fund him?". Somali Times. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  14. Cannon, Brendon J. "Foreign State Influence and Somalia\u27s 2017 Presidential Election: An Analysis". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. GFC Political Analysis Unit. "Cold War in Somalia (Gulf States Game: Security and Influence)" (PDF). Gulf Futures Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-18. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  16. "Somalia's intelligence chief worked with an al Qaeda affiliate, so why do we fund him?". American Enterprise Institute - AEI. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  17. "Somalia: Confidential report warns against former Islamist's close ties with president". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  18. "Fahad Yaasiin: Taliyaha awoodda badan ee aan wax badan laga ogeyn". BBC News Somali (in Somali). Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  19. "Somalitalk.com Online Community". www.somaliatalk.com. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  20. "Somalitalk.com Online Community". www.somaliatalk.com. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  21. Ali, Abdullahi Mohamed (2020-06-22). "Somalia Must Save Itself from Qatar". The National Interest. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  22. "Fahad Yasiin". Al Jazeera Center for Studies. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  23. J. Cannon, Brendon (2018). "Foreign State Influence and Somalia's 2017 Presidential Election: An Analysis". Bildhaan. 18. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  24. Rubin, Michael (16 November 2020). "Somalia's intelligence chief worked with an al Qaeda affiliate, so why do we fund him?". Washington Examiner. American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  25. "WardheerNews Person of the Year 2017: Fahad Yasin". WardheerNews. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  26. "Nominated Ministers and Their Clans". Goobjoog. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  27. "Somalia: Fahad Yasin's election as MP "rejected" by FEIT amid Farmajo-Roble fallout". Garowe Online. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  28. "BREAKING: Supreme Court rejects Fahad Yasin's appeal to restore election result". Hiiran Online. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  29. "Fahad Yassin Is the New Chief of Staff at Villa Somalia". Goobjoog News English. 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  30. "Somalia: Farmajo Shakes Security Chiefs to Rump Up War On Al-Shabaab". Shabelle Media Network. AllAfrica. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  31. "Somalia: Former deputy chief removed from NISA membership". Garowe Online. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  32. Sheikh, Abdi; Holland, Hereward (2019-08-22). Drummond, James (ed.). "Somali president replaces security chiefs and Mogadishu mayor". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  33. "Somalia: NISA chief Fahad Yasin appoints his deputy days after Kulane's dismissal". Garowe Online. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  34. "EXCLUSIVE: Top officials behind missing soldiers in Eritrea exposed". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  35. "Abiy Ahmed rejects Fahad Yasin's request for deployment of ENDF to Somalia". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  36. "Somali premier suspends intelligence chief; president objects". Reuters. 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  37. "Somalia: Farmaajo and PM Roble fail to strike deal in first meeting at Villa Somalia". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  38. "Farmaajo changes tune, appoints another spy chief as PM Roble accuses him of sabotage". Garowe Online. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  39. Sheikh, Abdi; Hassan, Abdiqani; Miriri, Duncan (20 September 2021). Maclean, William (ed.). "Somalia's president berates Djibouti for detaining his security adviser". Reuters. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  40. "Somalia Blasts Djibouti Over 'Unlawful Detention' of National Security Adviser". VOA. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  41. "Somalia: Fahad Yasin arrives in Mogadishu aboard private jet". GaroweOnline. 21 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  42. "President Hassan Sheikh appoints new National Security Advisor". Goobjog News. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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