ANALYSIS: Yasin’s NSC path on Ikran ‘murder’ contempt for PM and end of story

By T. Roble

I WILL NOT respond to you, beleaguered intelligence chief Fahad Yasin seemed to tell Prime Minister Mohamed Roble in his Sunday letter over the alleged death of Ikran Farah noting he needs the audience of the National Security Council.

As the 48-hour ultimatum entered its home stretch, Yasin, filed a correspondence from Turkey informing Roble that NISA had requested outgoing President Mohamed Farmaajo to convene a Security Council meeting upon which he will speak on Ikran’s death.

“The National Security and Intelligence Service has made a formal request to the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia to allow us to convene a meeting of the National Security Council, as chairman of the Security Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,” Yasin told the PM.

It is worth noting that Yasin has the cover of Farmaajo and will remain in office until the end of the term to cut Roble into size and shape

As was expected, Yasin was not going to heed the PM’s order. Roble fired Deputy NISA director Abdullahi Kulane and Aden Adde Airport intelligence boss Abdiwahab Sheikh Ali on July 24 only for the two to make a comeback three days to the agency in different capacities by Yasin’s stroke of the pen.

By asking his boss and political protégé Farmaajo to convene a meeting, Yasin was effectively telling Roble that the Ikran matter was done and dusted and will only remain a subject of anger by Somalis online and offline.

WHO SITS IN NSC?

To understand this argument, it is worth looking at the composition of the National Security Council. There is currently no law establishing the Council in Somalia but the National Security Architecture approved by the Lower House in April 2017 ahead of the London Conference put in place a de facto NSC. The Council, the Architecture posited, would comprise of the President, PM, Ministers for Internal Security, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice, Defence and Finance and the Governor of Banadir Region while the military, police heads and the National Security Advisor would be technical members.

The last time Farmaajo attempted to rally together FMS leaders for election talks resulted in a no-show and effectively ended his engagement with FMS leaders as PM Roble took over the task. It follows therefore that gathering those same heads for a highly controversial matter as the death of Ikran would be a tall order.

Opposition politicians have claimed that Ikran may have known a thing or two about the controversial military training of Somalis in Eritrea. Some of them were confirmed by the UN to have participated in the ongoing war in Tigray. If Ikran, who worked as a cyber security agent indeed had information about the Eritrean debacle which was mooted and run by Yasin to advance Farmaajo’s political ends, then the outgoing leader would not want to fry himself in his oil.

CLASSIFIED MATTER

On the flipside, supposing the meeting happens, then it would just be a routine security briefing which will remain classified laying to waste Roble’s attempts to punish Yasin. It is worth noting that Yasin has the cover of Farmaajo and will remain in office until the end of the term to cut Roble into size and shape. Meanwhile, Al-Shabaab which rubbished Yasin’s accusations will no doubt be watching from the distance and capitalise on the controversy to reinforce its propaganda offensive.

Somalis will however still need to vent more but within the confines of the law. Holding Yasin accountable for his alleged transgressions is moral, legal and an act of humanity for a family which has lost its loved one in the hands of the government and state she worked for.