Staff reporter GAROWE ONLINE
MOGADISHU, Somalia – A British national is now facing a host of charges in a Benadir court in what is related to the leaning of sensitive intelligence reports in Somalia, something which puts the country at risk of possible infiltration.
Matthew David Bryden is now accused of fuelling instability in the Horn of Africa nation, with similar claims raised in Asmara and Addis Ababa. Despite a host of allegations leveled against him, Bryden has often skipped interviews without giving concrete reasons.
Abdisaid M. Ali, the National Security Advisor, was recently quoted in a Dalsan TV interview pointing accusing fingers at Bryden, arguing that the British national is a beneficiary of instability in Somalia. He made reference to the case filed against Sahan Research Center, arguing that the accused is a threat to national security.
On various social media platforms, the accused uses the names such as “angry Matt” and “Dibjir”. He was sued by the state for leaking sensitive national security information to “foreign entities” something which puts the country at risk.
Those in the know-how term the British national as “nasty and corrupt”. The Banadir court has for months been preparing charges against him, but he h often managed to survive given deep connections within the system in Somalia
Banadir court has for months been preparing charges against him, but he has often managed to survive given deep connections within the system in Somalia.
“Bryden seems to be on a secret mission that only focuses on the bad image of Somalia,” Abukar Sanei, a Ph.D. student at Ohio University told The Somalia Star. “This tactic is how he and his enterprise [Sahan] keep in business.”
Having stayed in Somalia for years, Bryden speaks fluent Somali language and has even managed to master the culture. For years, he has also managed to win contracts from the National Intelligence Security Agency [NISA], despite his tendency of leaking information.
He became an advisor to the immediate former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and to the Canadian and US
former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and to the Canadian and US embassies to Somalia. He led the International Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project and at some point, worked for the United Nations and the humanitarian agency CARE.
Multiple sources who have had contact with him described Bryden as a mephistophelian Westerner whose activities are a threat to the stability and peace in the Horn of Africa region. His deep connections have at times triggered crises in Eritrea and even Ethiopia.
“Bryden is a con artist and hypocrite,” a Somali-Canadian economist, Abdirizak Fartaag, who was the first to expose Bryden and Sahan Research’s dirty business in 2016. “Bryden is a part of a cartel of international chaos profiteers in the reg that lies to everyone, particularly to 1
Western donors and to the international
organizations about the real situation in Somalia.”
“Now that Matt Bryden’s cover has been blown,” Fartaag said, “he should pack his bags and return to where he came from – that is if he has gotten an iota of intelligence left in him, which I doubt.”
Mostly domiciled in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and maneuvering through organizations such as Sahan Africa Ltd, Sahan Research Ltd, and Sahan Foundation Ltd, Bryden allegedly spreads disinformation and purposefully mischaracterizes regional affairs, with a fetish for Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
And he’s feeling smug about his mission. “Best wishes with your article’,” Bryden wrote in an email to our reporter after declining to answer written questions
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Somali
And Tes Teening smug about his TISSION.
“Best wishes with your ‘article’,” Bryden wrote in an email to our reporter after declining to answer written questions sent to him.
Bryden’s chicanery, exploits, and devious stratagems in the region have come into sharper focus recently when Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans aghast at his organization’s daily propaganda and smear campaigns against their countries dug up more information about the man and his organization to counter their conspiracies.
According to multiple sources, Bryden is a darling to western envoys, international organizations, and journalists. His targets are normally in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia and have been described as a “wanted man” in Somalia.
“Bryden is a heartless opportunist
are normally in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and
Somalia and have been described as a “wanted man” in Somalia.
“Bryden is a heartless opportunist who is good at cashing in on the misfortune of the Horn of Africa nations,” said Abdirahman Adan Ibi, a Somali lawmaker.
Since the early 1990s, Bryden has been pushing for the breakup of Somalia, so as a rebellious northwestern region that began its agitation for secession in 1991 gets independence. It “looks like a state, smells like a state, and tastes like a state,” he once said of the enclave that no country has recognized.
While it’s not clear how he has contributed to the ongoing destabilization of Ethiopia, which is now reeling in conflict, Bryden accused of having close links with Tigray Defense Forces [TDF]. The
While it’s not clear how he has contributed to the ongoing destabilization of Ethiopia, which is now reeling in conflict, Bryden is accused of having close links with Tigray Defense Forces [TDF]. The TDF has overpowered the federal army in Ethiopia and is closing into neighboring regions.
He, too, portrayed Eritrea as the villain of the piece to promote Ethiopia’s foreign policy in the region. A number of people accuse him of mutilating the United Nations reports in a manner that favors his associates.
“Bryden has been conducting an overt and outrageous smear campaign against Eritrea for years now,” Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane G. Meskel told The Somalia Star. “His fallacious reports tha filed to the UN Security Council under the umbrella of the Monitoring
“Bryden has been conducting an overt and outrageous smear campaign against Eritrea for years now,” Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane G. Meskel told The Somalia Star. “His fallacious reports that he filed to the UN Security Council under the umbrella of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea is one vivid demonstration of his nefarious acts.”
Citing information intercepted by a UN Security Council member that was shared with Asmara, Yemane said Bryden was under the payroll of foreign powers that wanted him to “manufacture incriminating reports against Eritrea.”
Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, director of the Nairobi-based Institute for Horn of Africa Strategic Studies, agreed.
“Bryden may not be commandeering
mechanized infantry, but he’s literally a warlord if you want me to be a little too blunt,” said Abdisamad, who recently accused Bryden’s organization, Sahan Research, of attempts to assassinate him. “Bryden wakes up every morning to try to find a way he can create more chaos and divisions in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.
“He can cant about his love for Somalia and can make millions of excuses for that, but he’s, in reality, the biggest enemy Somalia and the larger region have at this juncture,” Abdisamad said.
this article-originally published on GAROW Online
