Former Somali intel chief returns to Mogadishu from Turkey

By Magdalene Mukami

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Somali National Security Advisor and former intelligence chief Fahad Yasin returned Tuesday to Somalia from Turkey aboard a private jet.

Yasin arrived in Mogadishu accompanied by his team from Turkey days after he was detained in Djibouti while en route Somalia.

He was traveling to Mogadishu to attend a National Security Council meeting last Friday, according to the presidency, when he was “unlawfully detained,”

Djibouti has denied claims that Yasin was detained by airport security.

Yasin’s detention threatened a diplomatic row between the two Horn of African countries, with Somalia warning that "such acts will not help strengthen ties between our governments.”

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble sacked Yasin, the head of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) on Sept. 6, months after the mysterious killing of female intelligence operative Ikran Tahlil, who was killed in June.

The premier ordered the attorney general to investigate the killing.

But President Mohamad Farmaajo, however, asked Yasin to continue in his role and called the sacking "illegal."

Roble and Farmaajo locked horns concerning the hiring and firing with security agencies, triggering political instability as Somali struggles to hold long-delayed elections and fight rising extremism.​​​​​​​