Mogadishu – Somalia’s National Internal Security Conference was held in Mogadishu on September 1 and 2, bringing together members of the federal government, including the ministers for Internal Security, Interior and Defence, representatives of the country’s state governments, and other key actors in the security sector, including representatives of the African Union.
The Conference was organized around three sessions. The first focused on domestic security issues, including oversight of local police forces and the development of the National Security Agency and the Immigration and Citizenship Agency. The second addressed organizational gaps among the various agencies and ways to improve coordination between them. The third session focused on the sustainability of security measures, highlighting the need to address these challenges while progressively reducing reliance on international donors.
Commenting on the Conference, Minister for Internal Security Abdullahi Fartaag said that the dialogue between the various parties took place within the transition process being supported by the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia .
The mission began on January 1, 2025, with the aim of transferring full responsibility for security to the Somali state by the end of 2029. AUSSOM’s mandate covers both military and civilian areas, and its activities are aligned with two Somali government security plans: the Security Sector Development Plan and the National Security Architecture .
Security remains one of the most pressing issues facing the Horn of Africa country. The most serious challenge is posed by Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group active in Somalia and northern Kenya.
According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies , Somalia is the second-most dangerous area on the African continent in terms of violence linked to such groups, after the Sahel. The research centre recorded more than 7,300 deaths linked to terrorist attacks between 2023 and August this year, with Al-Shabaab responsible for 95 percent of them. This represents an exponential increase: between 2013 and 2022, the total number of deaths resulting from such attacks exceeded 3,500.
Al-Shabaab is becoming a challenge not only for Somalia, which is confronting the militant group amid growing internal instability driven by demands for greater autonomy, as in Puntland, and even independence, as in Somaliland’s campaign for international recognition. The ACSS also points out that in recent years Al-Shabaab has established contacts with the Houthis across the Gulf of Aden, as well as with pirates operating in those waters. This makes Al-Shabaad an actor whose actions could soon have far-reaching international consequences.
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