Somalia deradicalisation NGO fills aid gap

A Japanese-run NGO has become effectively the only foreign-funded reintegration programme for Islamist fighters still operating in Somalia after other donors reduced support.

Yosuke Nagai's organisation, Accept International, works with imprisoned Al-Shabaab fighters and defectors in Somalia. Funded by donations in Japan, it has 17 people working in prisons and a centre for defectors in Mogadishu, and 15 at a rehabilitation centre in Dhusamareb, the capital of Galmudug state.

The NGO says it has worked with 1,700 imprisoned Al-Shabaab fighters and 250 defectors. Its programme lasts about a year and includes counselling, Islamic education, vocational skills such as carpentry, and basic education.

Nagai began a programme for Somali students in 2011, when he was 19, and later worked with Somali gang members. In 2016, that led to cooperation with Somalia's government on reintegrating former Al-Shabaab members.

Nagai avoids the word "deradicalisation" and says he prefers to describe the work as empowerment. He said some former fighters have become tailors, traffic police or soldiers in the national army.

The United Nations supported Somalia's reintegration programmes from 2013 to 2024 but stopped funding them in 2025. Its final report said limited information available to the UN and international actors about key parts of the process contributed to a loss of donor confidence.

Martine Zeuthen, who wrote a report on the topic for the Royal United Services Institute, said Somalia's reintegration programmes are underfunded, with centres for former fighters facing limited food and disease. She said reduced international focus makes it harder to encourage people to leave Al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab still controls much of central Somalia and is deeply embedded in society, making it difficult for some members to defect. Nagai said one young man who had fled the group later returned under pressure from his father, who supported the insurgents.