ORIGINAL THREAD ON THE IKRAN TAHLIL CASE:
Key points in the article:
UPDATE - Al-Shabaab denies NISA claim that they killed NISA CyberSecurity Head Ikran Tahlil and they claim Govt. did it.
UPDATE 6th September 2021: Prime Minister Roble Fires NISA Chief Fahad Yasin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Timeline of events and background information In 2017, Ikran Tahlil Farah worked as an assistant for the assassinated Mayor of...
www.somalispot.com
Key points in the article:
- The killing of a senior Somali spy, who according to Western officials had knowledge of a secretive regional security accord and the formation of a new elite military unit, has cast a shadow over the war-torn nation’s long-delayed elections.
- Tahlil possessed intimate knowledge of a security agreement forged in 2018 between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, details of which the three nations wanted to keep secret, according to three United Nations and Western officials, who work in Somalia and spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss confidential intelligence assessments.
- Somalia had long suspected Eritrea’s government of lending support to al-Shabab, and the accord helped ease tensions between the two nations’ security forces, the officials said. They also revealed that the tie-up saw Eritrean intelligence officers being stationed in Somalia and Ethiopia, giving its President Isias Afwerki an important foothold in the region. Eritrea has been backing Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s fight against dissidents in the northern Tigray region.
- Tahlil, who spent several months training in forensic cyber-security at London’s Scotland Yard in 2019, also possessed sensitive information related to about 5,000 Somali soldiers, who were sent to Eritrea last year to participate in military exercises, according to one of the officials. About 450 of those troops were recruited into an elite fighting unit whose whereabouts and exact role remain unclear, he said.
- Tahlil was “poised to blow the whistle” on the controversial military operation, according to a report released last month by the International Crisis Group.
- The Somali presidency and prime minister’s office didn’t respond to queries on the tripartite security accord, the unit or Tahlil’s disappearance. Yemane Gebremeskel, the Eritrean Information Minister, and Billene Seymoum, Abiy’s spokeswoman, also didn’t reply to questions.