By Ali Yasin Gurbe, Director General, TUBSAN
Sunday October 18, 2026
On 14 October 2017, a bomb at Zoobe junction in Mogadishu killed hundreds of Somalis. Nine years later, we gathered in a hangar at Aden Adde International Airport to remember them. We did not come only to mourn. We came to decide what remembrance should now do.
The First National Conference on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism ran on 14 and 15 October under the theme “From Remembrance to National Resolve.” Federal and state representatives sat alongside religious and traditional leaders, women’s and youth organisations, civil society, the private sector, the media and international partners. Survivors and bereaved families were there, and they set the tone. When people who lost children, parents and livelihoods speak plainly about what extremist violence did to them, no propaganda can answer it.
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None of this would have been possible without the security that the Federal Government provided. I thank the President, the Prime Minister and the members of the Cabinet for their leadership and for making this gathering a national priority. I thank the head of the National Intelligence and Security Agency and the officers of NISA, who secured Mogadishu and its surroundings so that delegates, survivors and bereaved families could gather in safety. Their work is rarely visible, and it is the reason this conference could happen at all.
I want to be direct about what the conference produced. The participants issued a joint communiqué rejecting terrorism and violent extremism in all forms. They called for one national message, carried by public institutions, religious scholars, elders, civil society and the media. They also committed to support the formal consideration of 14 October as a National Day of Remembrance and National Resolve. That step still rests with the institutions concerned, and we will follow their procedures.
The reasoning behind this approach is simple. Al-Shabaab claims religious and social authority. A government statement alone cannot contest that claim, and Somalis know it. The Somali Ulema have unequivocally rejected Al-Shabaab as a religious group, and I thank them for that clear and courageous position. A statement carried by Ulema, elders, survivors and mothers is a different matter. It is a national position, and armed groups cannot answer it with force. This is a non-military response, and we believe it is among the most durable ones available.
To the survivors and bereaved families. You carried your grief into a public hall and spoke so that others might be spared. We heard you. Your testimony will shape how this country remembers and how it prevents. TUBSAN commits to treat you with dignity, to include you in the follow-up to this conference, and to press for psychosocial support to be part of the assistance our partners provide.
To the Federal Member States. An attack on any Somali community is an attack on the whole nation. I thank the state delegations who came to Mogadishu and stood with the Federal Government on this issue. Prevention only works when federal, state and local institutions act together. We will build the follow-up framework in consultation with you, and we will coordinate with your institutions rather than around them.
To our elders. Traditional elders hold an authority that no ministry can issue. They have settled disputes and held communities together for generations. I ask you to carry the national message into every clan and community, and above all to the young men whom recruiters target. A young person who hears this message from an elder he respects is far harder to recruit.
To the survivors and bereaved families. You were the heart of this conference. You told us what the violence took from you, and you did so with dignity and courage. Your testimony is the strongest argument we have against extremism, and we will not use it as ornament. Your perspectives will inform how we remember, how we prevent, and how we report. The follow-up framework will have room for your voices, and you will be able to hold us to it.
To the Federal Member States. Your delegations came to Mogadishu and stood with the Federal Government on a question that no region of this country can answer alone. An attack on any Somali community is an attack on the nation as a whole. I thank you for acting on that principle. Prevention depends on coordination among federal, state and local institutions, and TUBSAN will work with your administrations to make that coordination routine.
To our elders. Clan and community elders carry a trust that no ministry can issue. When an elder tells young men that violence in the name of religion or clan serves no one, that word travels further than any broadcast. We ask you to keep speaking, and we will support you in doing so.
I also thank the women and youth organisations, civil society, persons with disabilities, minority communities, the private sector and the media who took part, and I ask each of them to stay engaged, because prevention will be built in their communities and not only in our offices.
To Somalis abroad. You have carried this country through remittances, advocacy and the long work of keeping families together. Many of you lost relatives at Zoobe or in other attacks. I ask you to treat 14 October as yours too. Mark it where you live. Share survivor testimony. Challenge the recruiters and propagandists who reach young Somalis online in Nairobi, Minneapolis and London as readily as they reach them in Mogadishu. The conference called for responsible digital engagement that protects victims and does not amplify extremist messaging. The diaspora is central to that work.
To our international partners. Your support played a part in this gathering, and we are grateful. The conference rested first on Somali leadership and Somali security, and your contribution added to that foundation. The communiqué asks partners to align financial and technical assistance with nationally identified priorities and to coordinate through government-led mechanisms. That is a request for discipline, not a complaint about generosity. Duplication wastes scarce resources and confuses the people we serve. In return, TUBSAN commits to transparency. We will consolidate the conference outcomes, facilitate a time-bound follow-up framework with responsibilities, milestones and reporting arrangements, and prepare a concise public update before each 14 October. You will be able to see what was promised and what was delivered. Partners who invest in prevention, early warning, education, psychosocial support and pathways to economic participation will find willing counterparts at the community level.
To our neighbours. Violent extremism does not respect borders. The networks that recruit in Somalia draw on grievances and propaganda that travel across the Horn and East Africa. Somalia’s stability is a regional interest, and so is the credibility of our counter-narrative. I invite governments, religious institutions and civil society in neighbouring countries to share lessons with us and to learn from ours. A common language against extremist violence, spoken on both sides of every border, narrows the space in which these groups operate.
I also thank the women’s and youth organisations, civil society, persons with disabilities, the private sector and the media who took part. Editors and broadcasters carry a particular responsibility to report on victims with dignity and to deny extremist propaganda the publicity it seeks. Business owners can help by opening real opportunities to young people.
I do not want to overstate what a two-day conference can do. A communiqué is a promise, and promises mean little until they are tested. The real work starts now. We must turn commitments into indicators, and indicators into annual reporting. We must make sure that survivors, women, youth, minority communities and persons with disabilities hold real roles in designing prevention, not ceremonial seats. We must also address the conditions extremists exploit: social exclusion, injustice, misinformation, weak trust in institutions, and too few opportunities for young people.
The annual rhythm matters most. Each 14 October, TUBSAN will report on progress, and Somalis will be able to judge us. If the day becomes only a ceremony, we will have failed the people we gathered to honour. If it becomes a yearly test of national resolve, it will change how this country answers terrorism.
The dead cannot be returned to their families. We can ensure that their deaths are met with unity, honesty and sustained effort. That is the commitment we made in Mogadishu, and we intend to keep it.