How Loyalty Trumped Competence in Somalia’s National Security Office

[Deeq A.]

Hussein’s later description of the maritime MoU as ‘paused’ speaks volumes about his discontent at being dismissed for promoting a series of policy failures.

Mogadishu (Commentary) — Hussein Sheikh-Ali, the former Somali National Security Adviser, wrote a piece several weeks after he had resigned. He summed up the main threats to the sovereignty of Somalia in the second paragraph of his op-ed: “Ethiopia’s hegemonic instinct runs deep, shaped by centuries of conflict with Muslim sultanates and European-backed Christian alliances.”

Hussein single-handedly managed aspects of Somalia’s foreign policy towards Ethiopia, ranging from the 2022 intelligence-sharing agreement signed by Mahad Salad, the Director of National Intelligence and Security Agency and his counterpart, to the 2023 Somalia–Ethiopia defence pact signed in Addis Ababa in December 2023. In February 2023, when Essa Keyd, the former Foreign Minister of the Somaliland Administration, a secessionist entity in northern Somalia, claimed that the Somaliland administration “is a buffer zone for Ethiopia”, Hussein dropped the ball by failing to challenge the absurd claim, which was tantamount to rejecting the sovereignty of Somalia.

In 2024, when Ethiopia signed the now-defunct illegal maritime Memorandum of Understanding with the Somaliland Administration, Hussein proposed a policy that was adopted by the Federal Government of Somalia. The policy designated secession as a national security threat. The Federal Government of Somalia later reversed that policy when it proposed the resumption of talks with Hargeisa.

Although Hussein did not welcome the 2024 Ankara Agreement between Somalia and Ethiopia, he privately dismissed the deal that led to Ethiopia respecting the sovereignty of Somalia and abandoning the maritime MoU with the secessionist administration in Hargeisa.

Ethiopia maintains a peacekeeping force in Somalia in line with the Ankara Agreement. Cross-border movement between Somalia and Ethiopia is now characterised by amity. Just as Somalia has undergone changes since 1991, Ethiopia has also been transformed by political shifts. Like Somalia, it has its own challenges, as a civil war is raging in parts of Ethiopia, a multi-ethnic country.

Hussein briefly served as National Security Adviser to President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, who sacked him for utter incompetence. His contribution to the counter-terrorism effort was the establishment of the Ma’awisley paramilitaries in 2022, a catastrophic decision that pitted highly spirited and patriotic civilians against well-armed and battle-hardened Al-Shabaab terror units in Hirshabelle. The Ma’awisley sustained more casualties than the Somali National Army forces suffered in battles against Al-Shabaab. Hussein was more interested in repeating his signature phrase Suumanka Hala Dhuuqsado (“tighten your belts”). In 2022, he posed for the camera aboard USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, a US Navy ship.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud appointed Hussein as National Security Adviser to reward him for his opposition to President Farmajo . That Hussein later described the maritime MoU as “paused” reveals much about his dissatisfaction at being sacked for promoting a litany of policy failures. After all, he was selected for loyalty, not for competence in national security or familiarity with the modern history of Somalia or Ethiopia.

© Puntland Post, 2025

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