Abdi Hasan Awale

Abdi Hasan Awale
Awale in 2019
3rd President of Galmudug
In office 1 August 2012 – 23 July 2015
Vice President	Abdisamad Nuur Gulled[1]
Preceded by	Mohamed Ahmed Alin
Succeeded by	Abdikarim Hussein Guled
Chief of police of Mogadishu
In office 12 November 2001 – 8 December 2003
Prime Minister	Hassan Abshir Farah
Personal details
Born	1948 (age 76–77)
Political party	Independent

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. He later served as police chief for both the National and the Mogadishu forces.^[2] In 2006 he was a leading figure in the CIA backed Somali Warlord Alliance fighting the Islamic Courts, transitioning during the Ethiopian military occupation the following year to Commissioner of Police for the Transitional Federal Government.^[3]

In 2012, he was elected President of Galmudug state, holding office until 2015.

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

Abdi Hasan Awale 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][4]

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.^[5]

He defected from the alliance in June 2006, saying, "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".^[6] 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 12 July 1993 Abdi House Raid, which presaged the First Battle of Mogadishu. On 1 January 2007, he returned to Mogadishu where he pleaded for there to be no reprisals against the defeated Islamists.^[7]

He was elected on 1 August 2012 as the new president of Galmudug state, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia.

References

1. "SomaliaReport: Galmudug Elects New President". piracyreport.com.
2. "New beat for Somalia". BBC News. 18 February 1999. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
3. Albin-Lackey, Christopher (8 December 2008). ""So Much to Fear"". Human Rights Watch.
4. "Disorder reigns, but Somalia rulers see calm, progress". 12 March 2001. Archived from the original on 18 November 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
5. "Somali Islamists win city battle". 11 July 2006 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
6. "US-backed Somali commander defects". Al Jazeera. 13 June 2006.
7. "Somalia: No revenge against Islamists - former warlord". somalinet.com. 1 January 2007. Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2007.