A Who‘s Who of Somali Players

Note to Readers: Because this issue contains two Profiles, Listening Post does not appear in this issue.If indeed Somalia is "next" in line as a potential target for the US war against Al-Qa‘ida (See this issue's Dossier), its welter of competing clan leaders, warlords, secessionist leaders, and UN-backed government are all already competing to be the "Northern Alliance" or Hamid Karzai of the next campaign. Several have openly proclaimed their willingness to help the United States rid the country of Usama bin Ladin's followers, but skeptics wonder if ridding the country of their rivals is not also part of their expectation. On these two pages, we offer a quick field guide to the Somali claimants, or at least the major ones among them.

The UN-Backed President of the Transitional National Government: 'Abd al-Qasim Salad Hasan (Abdiqasim Salat Hassan, etc.)
Somalia has a recognized President (of sorts) in ‘Abd al-Qasim Salad Hasan, or Abdiqasim Salat Hassan. (Somali names in English depend on whether Arabic or Somali is used for transliteration, as well as other factors.) He took office in August 2000 after a UN-backed meeting held in Arta, Djibouti, under the sponsorship of the Djibouti President, and technically constituting a Parliament-in-exile, created a "Transitional National Government" (TNG). He defeated his nearest rival by 145 votes to 92, but many factions were not present. When Salad Hasan returned to Mogadishu he was greeted with cheering crowds, but since that time the TNG has had trouble controlling even all of the capital, let alone the rest of the country. The "Arta Process" was rejected by most of the warlords and secessionist leaders.

Salad Hasan, who is about 59, was Interior Minister under the late President Siad Barre; to some of his opponents that alone should be enough to disqualify him. The son of a traditional chieftain from the Hawiye clan, he had fled to Cairo after the fall of Siad Barre in 1991. Though he won a competitive election at the peace conference in Arta, he has had scant success in winning support of the warlords, and accusations fo corruption and inefficiency in the new TNG are rife, while others simply dismiss the TNG as a group of old Siad Barre hands returning to power. Though he enjoys UN support, the US seems to be flirting far more directly with his rivals.

The Head of the Anti-Salad Hasan Restoration Council: Hussein Muhammad Aidid
Hussein Aidid lived in the United States (in California) and actually returned to his homeland in 1992 as a United States Marine. Ironically, before that US intervention was over, the US was chasing Aidid's father, the powerful warlord who headed the Somali National Congress (SNC), and whose power is based on the Habr Gedir subclan of the Hawiye. Muhammad Aidid's supporters were those who engaged in the famous firefight in Mogadishu with US special operations troops in 1993, and the elder Aidid was never caught by the US, which withdrew after the loss of 18 dead. The elder Aidid survived and claimed to be President of Somalia, but died in August 1996, in part from wounds received from gunmen earlier.

The younger Aidid, born in 1963, inherited his father's mantle, having left the US Marines and returned to Somali life. There were splits within his father's faction, however, and he did not immediately enjoy the power his father had, losing some provinces his father had controlled.

However, since the installation of the TNG in 2000, Aidid has become a proponent of creating a unified front in opposition to the Arta Process, and at a meeting of tribal leaders and warlords in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March of 2001, they announced the creation of a Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC). In recent weeks he has offered his support to the US in the war on terrorism and has claimed that Bin Ladin supporters affiliated with the Islamist Al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya have been infiltrating the country.

The President of "Somaliland": Hajji Muhammad Ibrahim Egal
As noted in the Dossier, the northern part of Somalia which in colonial days was British rather than Italian proclaimed itself the independent state of Somaliland in 1991. Of the secessionist regions, it is the only one claiming to be formally independent, and has probably been more successful in creating trade and other links than other regions like "Puntland". Egal is Somaliland's second President, and like most of its leadership, from the Isaaq clan.

Egal was born in 1929 and was a key figure in winning British Somaliland's independence in 1960. However, the former British territory immediately united with the former Italian colony to form a united Somalia, and he initially became Prime Minister of the united republic. But some time after the Siad Barre coup took place in 1969, Egal was jailed.

After the fall of Siad Barre in 1991 and the proclamation of Somaliland's independence, the first President was ‘Abdulrahman Tor. In 1993, however, a council of clan leaders at Boroma elected Egal as President and deposed Tor; in 1994 Tor's forces were driven out of the capital of Hargeisa. Egal was re-elected President in 1997. The "country" has more functioning infrastructure than most regions of Somalia.

The Once and Perhaps Future President of "Puntland": ‘Abdullahi Yusuf
For a while it looked possible that the areas to the east and south of Somaliland might make good their own quasi-secession as the "Somali State of Puntland". Unlike Somaliland, Puntland — adopting the name of the ancient Land of Punt, which was somewhere in the general area — did not declare itself fully independent but rather declared autonomy under the local warlord, ‘Abdullahi Yusuf, who was soon addressed as general and elected President, ruling the region from the city of Garowe, with support from several Darod subclans. Just as "Somaliland" used the closing of the port of Mogadishu as an excuse to build up the port of Berbera, and "Jubaland" sought to build up Kismayo in the same way, "Puntland" enjoyed some prosperity due to its control of the port of Bossasso. The Majertayn (Mijertayn, Majerteen) subclan of Darod dominates in the region.

Yusuf's control of Puntland, however, went wildly out of control in 2001. In 1998, when Puntland's autonomy was declared, he was elected to a three-year term. In June of 2001 he claimed Parliament had extended his term, which should have ended June 30. The traditional elders of the region, however, met and declared Yusuf ousted, and after an interim period in which former Chief Justice Yusuf Hajji Nur was considered the Acting President, named Jama ‘Ali Jama as President on November 14. On November 21 Yusuf's supporters captured Garowe. The region is still divided, but Jama's alleged links with the Islamist Al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya, funded, it is claimed, by Usama bin Ladin, may help Yusuf in coming days.

Some of the Other Players

The four men discussed above are by no means the only players. Another important general, "Morgan" (Muhammad Siyad Hersi) and his Darod allies sought to organize "Jubaland" in the southeastern Juba valley around Kismayo. Long an important tribal figure with an important ally, General "Gebiyou" (Adan ‘Abdullahi Nur), "Jubaland" suffere d a setback and lost the port of Kismayo. Another grouping, mostly of the Digil and Rahenwayn clans, drove Aidid's forces out of Bay and Bakool provinces, in the southwest. Led by Hasan Muhammad Nur "Shargudud", this region is now dominated by the Rahenwayn Resistance Army (RRA), which has the support of Ethiopian troops from just over the nearby border. The RRA has been among those militia groups said to have been visited by US intelligence in recent weeks.

More on these men, and their political movements and "statelets", may be found in the Dossier in this issue and the next one.

Home

Current Issue

About Us

Back Issues

Resources

Subscribe