Somalia ex-spy chief says talks only way to end Al-Shabaab insurgency
MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Former Somali intelligence chief Fahad Yasin said Somalia’s decades-long conflict with Al-Shabaab cannot be resolved through military force alone, arguing that negotiations remain the only realistic path toward ending the insurgency. In a wide-ranging interview released Friday by the Geed Fadhi platform, the former spy chief said the Somali government must pursue […]
Black News 
MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Former Somali intelligence chief Fahad Yasin said Somalia’s decades-long conflict with Al-Shabaab cannot be resolved through military force alone, arguing that negotiations remain the only realistic path toward ending the insurgency.
In a wide-ranging interview released Friday by the Geed Fadhi platform, the former spy chief said the Somali government must pursue what he described as a dual-track strategy – maintaining military pressure on the militants while simultaneously opening channels for dialogue, whether conducted publicly or behind closed doors.
“Without talks, it is unlikely that the insurgency will end,” Yasin said, marking one of the clearest endorsements by a former senior Somali security official for eventual negotiations with the group.
Yasin said any future negotiations should begin with demands that Al-Shabaab sever ties with Al-Qaeda and other transnational extremist organizations. In return, he suggested, members of the group who renounce such affiliations should be treated as ordinary Somali citizens with full civic rights.
The remarks are likely to reignite debate within Somalia’s political and security establishment, where the question of whether to engage Al-Shabaab politically has long divided officials, analysts and regional actors.
Yasin also challenged prevailing narratives surrounding the gravest dangers confronting the Somali state. Contrary to repeated assertions by the federal government that Al-Shabaab and the separatist ambitions of Somaliland constitute Somalia’s foremost existential threats, he argued that both are symptoms of deeper national fractures rather than the root causes of instability.
The former intelligence chief said Somalia’s most profound crisis lies in the absence of a shared national understanding of statehood and the country’s failure to achieve meaningful political reconciliation after decades of conflict and institutional collapse.
According to Yasin, unresolved disputes over governance, power-sharing and national identity continue to undermine efforts to rebuild a cohesive state, fueling chronic instability and eroding public confidence in federal institutions.
“These are consequences of the state collapse,” he said, referring to Al-Shabaab and Somaliland’s secessionist aspirations. “The larger threats are the unresolved political divisions and the lack of consensus on state-building itself.”
Yasin’s remarks come at a politically sensitive moment amid intensifying disputes over Somalia’s electoral model, constitutional reforms and the federal government’s ongoing military offensive against Al-Shabaab.
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