Report on High-Level Somali Official Fahad Yasin, a Former Al-Jazeera Correspondent with Past in Extremist Groups

On July 24, 2019, Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired a brief report about Fahad Yasin, a former senior Al-Jazeera Network correspondent in Somalia who had headed Al-Jazeera's Center for Studies in East Africa in 2013. The report said that the Mogadishu-based Yasin, who was reportedly promoted to a key position in the Somali presidential palace in 2017, is known to have belonged to extremist organizations before working for Al-Jazeera, and the report claimed that his relationship with these groups had enabled him to form ties with Qatari security and intelligence agencies. The report claimed that Al-Arabiya's sources have alleged that Yasin has spearheaded Qatari schemes in Somalia and in the neighboring countries, and the report said that in August 2018, the Kenyan government revealed that Yasin had illicitly and fraudulently acquired a Kenyan passport. The narrator said that Qatar is interested in spreading its influence in the Horn of Africa because of the anarchy and the political void in the region.

Narrator: "The Horn of Africa is a place of vast areas of wasted resources. It is strategically located, and it is plagued by anarchy and by a political void. This has made the region a place coveted by Qatar, which does not hesitate to use any means in order to spread its influence. Its most prominent means in Mogadishu is this man: Fahad Yasin, one of the most important centers of power today in the Somali presidency, who is a former correspondent for the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel. Yasin is known to have been a member of extremist organizations before joining Al-Jazeera TV as a reporter. This apparently enabled him to strengthen his ties with Qatari security and intelligence agencies. Six years ago, he was the head of the Al-Jazeera Center for Studies in East Africa. Two years ago, he was appointed to an important position in the presidential palace. Sources accuse him of spearheading Qatari schemes – not only in Somalia, but in neighboring countries, as well. In Mogadishu, he strengthens his position and sidelines his rivals, like General Abdallah Abdallah, the deputy director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency. Last August, the Kenyan government revealed that Yasin had obtained a Kenyan passport in an illegal and fraudulent manner."