Shatigadud was born in 1946 in Bakaar Yare, Waajid,
Bakool, near the border with Ethiopia in southern Somalia. He hailed from the Hariin subclan of Mirifle Rahanweyn. He attended primary school in Baidoa, then moved to Mogadishu for secondary school.[citation needed] He later studied at universities in Somalia, Italy and Russia. He was multilingual, reportedly speaking Somali, Maay, Arabic, Italian, Russian and English.[citation needed]
After having lived and worked most of his life in Somalia, Shatigadud eventually retired to Dortmund, Germany. He died there in late March 2013, having suffered a heart attack. His body was subsequently flown to Mogadishu for a Janaza prayer by Members of Parliament and other senior Federal Government officials. Shatigaduud was finally laid to rest in Baidoa's main cemetery, with a large crowd attending the funeral and prayer service.[1]
On April 1, 2002, Shatigadud became the President of the Southwestern State of Somalia, an autonomous self-proclaimed state in southern Somalia centered in Baidoa.[3][4] The polity's organization was thought to be a move to show the disaffection of the RRA with the nascent Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government, as well as an act to counter the influence of the Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) in the same regions.[4]
Internal disputes developed between Shatigadud, who wished to support the new Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), and his two deputies, SheikhAden Madobe and Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade, who wished to continue to support the TNG. The conflict resulted in many deaths and calls for Shatigadud to step down as President.[5] Habsade continued to meet with TNG leaders ostensibly with the hope of being part of the nascent national government.[6] The feuding leaders of the RRA were eventually reconciled and, though conflicts periodically erupted thereafter, all joined the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) at its formation.
On December 2, 2007, Shatigadud was appointed Minister of National Security in the government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein. He along with three other ministers from his Rahanweyn clan resigned the following day, asserting that their constituents had not been given a fair share of posts in Hussein's government.[10]
