Army chief Gorod replaced as Farmaajo kicks out close ally from Villa Somalia

Fahad Yassin, the man credited for President Mohamed Farmaajo’s close ties with Qatar and reportedly bankrolled his election last February has been hounded out of Villa Somalia as chief of staff in sweeping changes today which also saw army chief Maj. Gen. Abdiweli Jama Hussein ‘Gorod’ replaced.

President Farmaajo replaced Yassin, a former Al Jazeera Network staffer with Dr. Amina Said Ali who becomes the first female occupant of the position. Dr. Ali was appointed Yassin’s deputy last June. Yassin has been redeployed to intelligence headquarters as deputy director.

The fate of General Gorod was not immediately clear with the announcement only noting he had been replaced by Dahir Adan Elmi as the new chief of defense forces. Gorod was appointed April 2017 following President Farmaajo’s ‘declaration of war’ against the militant group Al-Shabaab.

Other changes in the military include the appointment of Odowaa Yusuf Raage as army commandant and Hassan Nur Co-ujoog to head the navy.

The intelligence agency NISA also saw some shake-up as two deputies- Abdalla Mohamed Abdalla an Abdulkadir Mohamed Nuur and were axed, one paving way for Yassin.

The changes also affected the police with two deputies vacating their positions to leave room for Said Ahmed Kadiye and Zakia Hussein Ahmed who becomes the first female officer to be appointed to such rank in the police.