A regional pushback, Somalia’s defense minister says the country’s new E-Visa system has significantly disrupted the movement of ISIS fighters into the Calmiskaad mountains, a remote hideout in the country’s northeast.
A REGIONAL PUSHBACK: CURRENT SITUATION WITH PREVIOUS YEARS
A regional pushback, Defense Minister Ahmed Moallin Fiqi said Saturday that not a single ISIS member has arrived in Somalia to join the militants in the Calmiskaad range since the digital visa system came into force. The militant group has long used the rugged highlands of Bari region as a foothold, maintaining a small but stubborn presence despite sustained military pressure.
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A regional pushback, Fiqi contrasted the current situation with previous years, when security forces intercepted large batches of passports many belonging to Arab foreign nationals believed to be traveling through Puntland and Somaliland airports to join ISIS cells in the mountains.
“In the Puntland mountains, many passports of mostly Arab foreigners were seized from ISIS all of them arrived at airports in Puntland and Somaliland,” he said. “Now it is less. Not a single terrorist has boarded a plane since the implementation of the E-Visa. ISIS is finished.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL SYSTEM
A regional pushback, the minister said the digital system is aimed at strengthening national security by ensuring that every person entering Somalia is properly identified, rather than restricting movement for ordinary residents of Puntland or Somaliland.
His comments come as both Puntland and Somaliland continue to reject the E-Visa rollout, accusing the federal government of overreach and saying they will not comply with the new procedures.
A regional pushback, Fiqi’s remarks underscore the latest tension between the federal government and regional authorities, even as Somalia pushes to modernize its border controls and cut off militant networks long sustained by porous entry points.
