Reports Indicate Worries on the Vulnerability in the Structure of the TFG Security Apparatus
Higher officers and a defecting insurgent are disclosing the weak links and vulnerability of the government security structure. Other top officials in the Security Ministry denied the existence of any serious weakness to worry about.
Colonel Abdulahi Ali Maow, a member of the government’s National Security Agency (NSA) has told VOA that Somali insurgents succeeded as far as tabbing the Somali President and Prime Minister’s telephone lines.
Colonel Maow also asserted that insurgents have infiltrated and sneaked their covert agents in the government security structure.
This claim of infiltration by the insurgents was seconded by the recently defected Al-Shabab commander commonly known as “Sheikh Bakistani”. Shiekh Bakistani said he believed Al-Shabab maintains elements within the TFG security apparatus.
He also disclosed that just before his defection he was assigned by the Al-Shabab to join the Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jamma, a government affiliated militia group in Somalia, as a fake Sufi Muslim to earn their trust and then carry out assassination projects on the top leaders of the group.
Colonel Maow also spoke of serious signs of corruption in the Somali Security. He said that the official number of members in the government security is reported as 16,000- a number he believes is intentionally inflated for the purpose of money collection by officials in the name of salary.
The Somali President has already stopped the 100 dollar monthly salary in the security which used to be distributed on monthly per person basis. Reports indicate that the President has also requested an inquiry in to this allegation. Although the President has suspended the salary, a one-dollar ration for each soldier is still paid on the 16,000 number given by the TFG’s officials.
The Somali government’s Security Minister Mr. Abdulahi Mohamed Ali denied the existence of corruption within the TFG forces. Mr. Ali also defended the situation in the security department and dismissed the allegations as rumors that lack concrete evidence.
The Somali government lacks money to run its day to day functions. The international community has pledged to dispatch 58 million dollars to help the weak Transitional Government. However, government officials have complained that only 3 million of the pledged amount is made available so far.
