Japanese idealist's deradicalization work becomes Somalia's lifeline as Western aid retreats

In a country long battered by insurgency and now largely abandoned by Western donors, a Japanese NGO founded by a nineteen-year-old idealist has become Somalia's sole remaining foreign-funded deradicalization program. Yosuke Nagai arrived in 2011 with a belief that radicalization could be interrupted before it took hold, and over fifteen years that belief evolved into a formal government partnership reintegrating former al-Shabab fighters into civilian life. As powerful nations recalibrated their priorities and withdrew their resources, a single private actor — armed with conviction rather tha