Somali Blog

Former President of Somalia 2004-2008, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed died at the age of 77. 

Associated Press: In a political career spanning almost half a century, Yusuf survived several assassination attempts, two stints in jail and a liver transplant.

Born in 1934, Abdullahi Yusuf was born into a nomadic family in Nugaal region. He joined the army in 1950 in Galkacyo, Mudug region and was sent off to Italy for training in 1954, making   him one of the original 16 to graduate from military academy.

In 1957 at the age of 23, he became the deputy police commissioner of Banaadir. Later that year he was given the position of police commissioner of both Lower and Upper Jubba Regions.

In 1960 he was sent off to Italy for military training and when he returned he became military police at the 26th division in Woqooyi Galbeed Region.

In 1964, as a lieutenant officer in Bay, he fought off a surprise invasion from Ethiopian forces, he did this with light armour weapons and consequently invaded 15 km into Ethiopia. He represented Somalia at peace talks regarding the border war.

That same year he was decorated with the Medal of Valor by President Aden Abdullah Osman and promoted to the rank of Colonel for his actions. He was then sent off to the prestigious Frunze Military Academy in Moscow, then in the Soviet Union.

In 1969, he refused to take part in a coup with then Major General Siad Barre and as a consequence imprisoned for 6 years after Siad Barre took power. When released he and then Colonel Aideed were given similar administrative jobs at the Fiat Company in Mogadishu.

In 1977, Siad Bare handpicked Abdullahi Yusuf to lead Somalia’s elite forces in the Ogaden war. He was given a total of 35000 troops which invaded the Ogaden from the South till they reached their target, Mojo, 70 km south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.

After the war was lost, Abdullahi Yusuf and other military officials attempted a coup against Siad Barre in 1978, the coup failed and Abdullahi Yusuf and other officials fled to Kenya. 17 alleged co-conspirators were executed and others were sentenced for a minimum of 20 years.

His actions led to reprisals against his Majeerteen clan, specifically his Omar Mahamud sub-lineage, with over 2000 people dying of thirst after Siad Barre’s paramilitary units destroyed their wells. In addition it is estimated that the clan lost  50,000 camels, 10,000 cattle, and 100,000 sheep and goats.

That same year, he founded Somalia’s first rebel group, the SSDF, Somali Salvation Democratic Front (then known as DFSS) and it put its base in Ethiopia. Here they used to engage the Somali Army in border skirmishes.

In 1982, SSDF fought the Somali Army in two border towns, seizing it with Ethiopian help. This led to further reprisals against Abdullahi Yusuf’s clan. The Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam declared the territories to be part of Ethiopia, creating tensions between the two and Abdullahi Yusuf was subsequently jailed in 1984 for not handing over the territories which Somalia later regained. The SSDF’s armed wing was disbanded.

He was released from a prison near Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1991 after the collapse of the Derg (Haile Mariam’s regime). As Somalia also transcended into chaos after the toppling of its dictator Siad Barre, Abdullahi Yusuf returned home to his ancestral homeland in North West Somalia. The SSDF was relaunched and forces loyal to Abdullahi Yusuf captured Northern Mudug, Nugaal and Bari, and later on Sool and Eastern Sanaag.

In Bari and Sanaag regions he fought Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a now defunct Islamic militant group led then by Sheikh Dahir Aweys, current member of Al-Shabaab. Both  outnumbered and outgunned he and the SSDF rebels managed to expel AIAI forces from the port city of Bosaso and the rugged mountains of Sanaag.

Puntland State of Somalia is then founded in 1998 with the backing of locals, business community and the clan elders, creating a state from Gaalkacyo to Buhoodle. He became the first President of the autonomous region and stayed on the post till 2001 when he lost an election. He regained his seat by toppling Jama Ali Jama which he believed had close ties with the newly formed Transitional National Government, a coalition of former warlords and Siad Barre era officials that wanted to establish a government which eventually ended up failing.

He was elected President of Somalia in 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya. His newly formed government was flew back to Somalia a year and a half later and made Baidoa, the capital of Bay Region, the government’s seat due to Mogadishu’s safety concerns.

In 2006, Ethiopia invaded with the approval of the Transitional Federal Government amidst an expanding influence from the Islamic Courts union, which seized the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu and large swathes of the south. Ethiopia entered Baidoa, the temporary capital for the government and went onto Mogadishu and toppled the UIC. An insurgency progressed against the Ethiopian forces and they withdrew in 2008 after Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned from his post as President.

He moved abroad due to health reasons, living between Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. He died on the 23rd of March 2012 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

There’s a lot of fails in the Somali Challenge, I’ve been watching you all, my citizens you have failed me.