25 October 2021
A lengthy report by the New York Times on the CIA’s operations in Mogadishu reveals the agency’s involvement in Somalia.
The New York Times reports that the CIA has thwarted an earlier attempt to impose sanctions on former NISA commander Fahad Yassin, a national security adviser to President Farmajo.
The New York Times reports that Fahad was subject to sanctions because he supported the president’s attempt to extend his term in February, which led to fighting in Mogadishu.
“US officials have suggested that Fahad be sanctioned for his involvement in the term extension,” said two Western officials. But the CIA has vehemently opposed the idea, apparently protecting its counterterrorism interests, ”the New York Times reported.
The CIA is based at Mogadishu airport and works closely with NISA in the fight against al-Shabaab.
The CIA’s move sent the wrong message to Somali officials about US priorities, according to a Western official. “They saw that we were saying one thing but our action were in contradiction.”
Meanwhile, the report said that the CIA was conducting night raids in Mogadishu to hunt down members of the Al-Shabaab group.
In one of those operations CIA officer Michael Goodboe, 54, was killed in November last year.
Goodboe was injured in a car bomb blast by an al-Shabaab official who was being ousted overnight and was taken to a US military hospital in Germany, where he died 17 days later.