Abdi Hasan Awale
3rd President of Galmudug
In office
1 August 2012 – 23 July 2015
Vice PresidentAbdisamad Nuur Gulled[1]
Preceded byMohamed Ahmed Alin
Succeeded byAbdikarim Hussein Guled
Chief of police of Mogadishu
In office
12 November 2001 – 8 December 2003
Prime MinisterHassan Abshir Farah
Personal details
Born1948
Political partyIndependent

Abdi Hasan Awale or Abdi Qeybdiid (Somali: Cabdi Xasan Cawaale (Qeybdiid), Arabic: عبدي حسن عوالي قيبديد; born 1948) is a Somali politician.

Qeybdiid was a high ranking member of the Somali National Alliance during the 1990s, and a major figure in the CIA backed Somali Warlord Alliance during the early 2000s. He served as chief for both the National and the Mogadishu police force.[2]

Personal life

Abdi Hasan Awale was born in 1948 in Galkacyo, Somalia. He is a member of the Sacad sub-clan of the Habar Gedir clans.[citation needed]

Political career

Qeybdiid rose to prominence as Mohammed Farrah Aidid's interior minister in its clashes with UN forces during the so-called "nation-building" phase of UNOSOM II in 1993.

By 2001, he was the chief of police over Mogadishu as part of the new Transitional National Government (TNG).[2][3]

In 2006, he fought with the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) against the Islamic Courts Union in the Second Battle of Mogadishu. They surrendered on 11 July 2006, the last Alliance forces to do so.[4]

He defected from the alliance in June 2006, saying that “Since the formation of ARPCT, Mogadishu has been a centre of a military crisis that has led to the needless death of hundreds of people, therefore I decide to quit the alliance to build on the gains of the Islamic tribunals and give peace a chance”.[5]

On January 1, 2007, he returned to Mogadishu where he pleaded for there to be no reprisals against the defeated Islamists.[6]

He was elected on 1 August 2012 as the new president of Galmudug state, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia. In December 2006, he led an engagement on behalf of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by a sizable contingent of Ethiopian troops, known as the Battle of Bandiradley. He is also the "Tiger Abdi" of the July 12, 1993 Abdi House Raid, which presaged the First Battle of Mogadishu.[7]

References

  1. ^ "SomaliaReport: Galmudug Elects New President". piracyreport.com.
  2. ^ a b "New beat for Somalia". BBC News. 18 Feb 1999. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  3. ^ "Disorder reigns, but Somalia rulers see calm, progress". 2001-03-12. Archived from the original on 2006-11-18. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  4. ^ "Somali Islamists win city battle". July 11, 2006 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ "US-backed Somali commander defects". Al Jazeera. 13 June 2006.
  6. ^ "Somalia: No revenge against Islamists - former warlord". somalinet.com. 2007-01-01. Archived from the original on 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  7. ^ Chris Albin-Lackey, Human Rights Watch (Organization), "So much to fear": war crimes and the devastation of Somalia, Human Rights Watch, 2008, p. 44
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