Fired Somalia Intelligence Boss Had Kenyan Identification Documents

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Sept 8- The sacked director of Somalia’s National Intelligence Security Agency (NISA) Fahad Yasin had Kenyan citizenship.

This was revealed in 2018 when authorities said they were investigating reports Yasin had the Kenyan documents.

Yasin is also known as Fahad Dahir Ahmed and was first appointed the Deputy Director of NISA, igniting heated debate.

He later ascended to the position of director of NISA.

He was first appointed as the Chief of Staff for Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Farmajo’.

The powerful and controversial right-hand man of the president had been traveling using Kenyan documents.

According to documents, Yasin was issued a Kenyan passport (number C024542) on September 6, 2013. He got the identity card (number 22847167) on November 26, 2001.

He has been using the passport to travel in and out of Kenya. He was in Nairobi when President Farmajo announced the shake-up in the security forces in which he was appointed to the new position.

Then Immigration Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa and Alexander Muteshi, Director of Immigration Services, confirmed they were aware of the matter, and that investigation had been launched.

“You cannot be a Kenyan and land a sensitive job like that in another country. Another matter of concern is whether as a dual citizen, you are allowed to hold such a serious position in another country,” he said.

The results of investigations are yet to be made public.

Yasin was the subject of sharp debate in a section of the Somali media since he is also in possession of documents showing he is a Somali national.

Farmajo had heaped praise on Yasin when he named him the Chief of Staff at Villa Somalia (State House).

Somalia’s prime minister suspended the intelligence chief on September 6, prompting a public rebuke from the president and highlighting growing divisions at the heart of the political elite.

The suspension – triggered by a dispute over investigations into an unsolved murder – followed months of wrangling that have threatened to further destabilize a country already riven by militant attacks and clan rivalries.

Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble said he had told Yasin to step aside for failing to deliver a report on the murder of one of the agency’s agents.

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

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 denied any involvement.