Mogadishu (WDN) – Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Ma’allin Fiqi has called for Somaliland’s controversial politician Faisal Ali Warabe to be designated a terrorist, following an incendiary letter in which Warabe appeared to support Al-Shabaab and predicted the militant group would seize Mogadishu between May and June of this year.

Minister Fiqi did not mince words in his condemnation, stating that Warabe’s remarks amounted to open alignment with Al-Shabaab, a group recognized globally as a terrorist organization. “It is a bad understanding of what he said,” Fiqi stated. “He has already joined ISIS (Daesh) with his children, and now he has joined the Al-Shabaab terrorist group directly, just like his predecessors.”

The letter from Warabe, widely circulated on social media, not only ridiculed the Somali federal government’s recent gains against terrorism but also suggested Al-Shabaab’s takeover of the capital was imminent. Security experts and Somali officials are now treating the statement as more than reckless rhetoric — viewing it as an act of propaganda support to a designated terrorist organization.

Fiqi stressed the gravity of the situation: “Warabe should be placed on the list of terrorists and brought to trial.” This is not the first time Faisal Ali Warabe’s ties to extremist groups have raised alarms. His son, Sayid Hussein Feisal, infamously joined ISIS in Syria in 2013 Faysal Ali Warabe , later appearing in an ISIS recruitment video before being killed in combat . Warabe has never disavowed his son’s actions, nor has he issued any clear denunciation of extremist ideology.

Critics argue that Warabe’s continued platform as a political figure has been exploited to promote instability, with his latest comments effectively legitimizing Al-Shabaab’s propaganda efforts at a critical moment in Somalia’s ongoing military campaign.

While Somalia’s security forces have recently liberated strategic areas from Al-Shabaab, the group continues to mount deadly counterattacks. Fiqi acknowledged that, despite recent gains, weaknesses remain in the government’s overall counterterrorism strategy — vulnerabilities that voices like Warabe’s aim to exploit.

Analysts warn that public figures sympathetic to terrorist causes pose a serious threat to national security, especially when their influence extends into the diaspora and international forums. “This is no longer about free speech — this is a clear endorsement of terrorism,” said one senior counterterrorism analyst in Mogadishu.

Calls are mounting for the international community, especially Finland where Warabe holds citizenship, to investigate his affiliations and take appropriate action.

Somalis across the political spectrum are now united in one demand: justice for those who enable terror, whether by bullet or by broadcast.

WardheerNews