Somalia: Farmaajo set to appoint new NISA boss after Fahad Yasin's exit

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo is set to appoint a new director for the National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA], Garowe Online has learned, in a move which comes amid ongoing political wrangles in the Horn of Africa nation.

Sources say Villa Somalia is set to appoint Abdirizak Mohamud to replace Fahad Yasin, who has since been appointed as the National Security Advisor to Farmaajo. Yasin was sacked by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble following the death of Ikran Tahlil, a junior employee within NISA.

Mohamud, who is married to an Eritrean wife is the middle man of outgoing President Farmaajo and Eritrea strongman Isaias Afwerki relations, also file keeper of Somali cadets sent to Eritrea for the clandestine training which caused political ripples in Somalia.

The incoming spy chief was featured in Garowe Online's article published in June exposed the faces behind the Somali recruits secretly sneaked out of Somalia and being sent to Eritrea with promises of highly paid jobs in Qatar.

Abdisalam Guled, a former deputy NISA director said: "Abdirizak is responsible for the abduction, false recruitment, trafficking and smuggling of around 10,000 innocent Somali boys. According to survivors who have escaped from the Eritrean concentration camps, substantiated for me, that he was the one overseeing the whole process".

Apparently, Farmaajo had appointed Yasin Farey, the immediate former Banadir region spy chief to lead NISA but differences between Roble and the president escalated. Roble had appointed Lieutenant General Bashir Mohamed Jama alias Goobe to lead the agency.

By last week, Lieutenant General Bashir Mohamed Jamah alias Goobe had taken over leadership at NISA headquarters and appeared to be fully in charge. It's not clear how the President will maneuver in the next move given the current standoff.

Fahad Yasin was linked to the murder of Ikran Tahlil, and the family has since sued him with three others at the military court. According to the family, the former spy chief was among the people who were in direct contact with the slain NISA agent before her disappearance and subsequent murder.

Sources said Ikran Tahlil was in possession of details on the clandestine training of Somali soldiers in Eritrea, which caused a political storm in Somalia. It's not clear if her death had something to do with Somali soldiers training in Eritrea.

In July reports emerged that the troops had crossed over from Eritrea to the Tigray region in Ethiopia to give a back up to the Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF] who are still embroiled in a tussle with Tigray Defense Forces [TDF]. Both Eritrea and Somalia have denied the reports.

GAROWE ONLINE