Refugees fleeing violence in Tigray, Ethiopia. Picture: Gabriela Vivacqua/ UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Speaking at the event, Ali expressed the need to design and strengthen strategies to respond to violent extremism.
“Africans have their traditional ways of addressing conflict, and we should look towards those approaches to address the increasing violent extremism in Africa,” he said.
The lecture was about security challenges in relation to terrorism and violent extremism in Africa.
Drawing from his experiences in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, Ali shared with the audience some of the efforts and initiatives implemented to design and strengthen strategies to respond to violent extremism.
“The threat of insurgencies is transnational in nature, (and) addressing existing issues is not enough to curb the transnational element of insurgents,” he said.
Ali said that the prime source of resistance is having a reconciled community that has confidence in the security system and the politics in place.
“We need to understand the concerns of the extremist groups, their language, the ideological links with the mainstream communities and how they co-ordinate plans across the borders and we need collaboration and co-ordination.”
He said that Somalia has been the worst affected country in terms of multifaceted security challenges in Africa.
“I am happy to share lessons learnt in this area so we can identify collective solutions to these challenges.
“As African governments we are more reactive than proactive, we wait for things to explode, then we act,” Ali said about African states’ responses to extremism on the continent.
Pan-African Parliament (PAP) president, Chief Fortune Charumbira, met Ali on a courtesy visit to his office.
The two leaders exchanged views on continental security challenges, while Charumbira indicated that peace and security on the continent will feature on the agenda of the next PAP sitting.
President H.E.Hon Chief Charumbira receives Abdisaid Muse Ali @4rukun, Former Somalia Minister of Foreign Affairs. They discussed African security challenges as PAP President indicates that peace & security on the continent will feature on the agenda of the next PAP sitting. pic.twitter.com/vr1sIWfvRJ
— PanAfricanParliament (@AfrikParliament) September 14, 2022
Ali’s first position with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) was as national security advisor to President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (also known as Farmaajo) from December 2017 to September 2021. In this position, Ali oversaw and managed security policy in Somalia - covering the military, police, and intelligence institutions.
From September 2021 to November 2021 he served as chief of staff for the president at Villa Somalia.
On November 21, 2021, Mohamed Hussein Roble, who was prime minister at the time, appointed Ali to the position of minister of foreign affairs and international co-operation, a position he held until August this year. Before his appointment, he served as regional political advisor to the European Union Special Representative (for the Horn of Africa) and as country representative for the Nordic International Support Foundation.
IOL