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

Personal life

Abdi Hasan Awale was born in 1948 in

Galkacyo Galkayo ( so, Gaalkacyo, ar, جالكعيو Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116.) which in Af- Somali translates t ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. He is a member of the Sacad sub-clan of the Habar Gedir clans.

Political career

Qeybdiid rose to prominence as

Mohammed Farrah Aidid Mohamed Farrah Hassan Aidid ( so, Maxamed Faarax Xasan Caydiid; ar, محمد فرح حسن عيديد; 15 December 1934 – 1 August 1996) was a Somali general and diplomat. Educated in both Rome and Moscow, he served as a chief in the Italian ...

's interior minister in its clashes with UN forces during the so-called "nation-building" phase of

UNOSOM II United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) was the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia and took place from March 1993 until March 1995, following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991. UNOSOM II carried on ...

in 1993. On 3 October 1993, an assault force of

Delta Force The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

commandos backed up by nearly 140

United States Army Rangers United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if t ...

and four US Army

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

operators under the command of Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison and Col. Lee Van Arsdale captured Qeybdiid together with Omar Salad Elmi, Aidid's Foreign Minister. He stayed in American custody for some months. The arrest led to the Battle of Mogadishu and is portrayed in the film '' Black Hawk Down.'' By 2001, he was the chief of police over Mogadishu as part of the new

Transitional National Government The Transitional National Government (TNG) was the internationally recognized central government of Somalia from 2000 to 2004. Overview The TNG was established in April–May 2000 at the Somalia National Peace Conference held in Arta, Djibouti. ...

(TNG). In 2006, he fought with the

Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism The Somali Warlord Alliance, officially called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (abbreviated ARPCT; so, Isbaheysiga Ladagaalanka Argagaxisadda) was a Somali alliance created by various somali warlords and businessm ...

(ARPCT) against the

Islamic Courts Union The Islamic Courts Union ( so, Midowga Maxkamadaha Islaamiga) was a legal and political organization formed to address the lawlessness that had been gripping Somalia since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 during the Somali Civil War. Th ...

in the

Second Battle of Mogadishu The Second Battle of Mogadishu was a battle fought for control of Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu. The opposing forces were the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), and militia loyal to the Islamic Courts Union ...

. They surrendered on 11 July 2006, the last Alliance forces to do so. 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”. On January 1, 2007, he returned to Mogadishu where he pleaded for there to be no reprisals against the defeated Islamists. He was elected on 1 August 2012 as the new president of

Galmudug Galmudug ( ar, جلمدج; it, Galmudugh), officially Galmudug State of Somalia ( so, Dowlad Goboleedka Galmudug ee Somalia, Soomaaliya), is a States and regions of Somalia, Federal Member State in central Somalia, with its capital at Dhusamareb. ...

state, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia. In December 2006, he led an engagement on behalf of the

Transitional Federal Government The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ( so, Dowladda Federaalka Kumeelgaarka, ar, الحكومة الاتحادية الانتقالية) was internationally recognized as a provisional government of the Republic of Somalia from 14 October ...

(TFG), backed by a sizable contingent of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n troops, known as the

Battle of Bandiradley The Battle of Bandiradley in Somalia began on December 23, 2006, when Galmudug and Ethiopian forces, along with faction leader Abdi Qeybdid, fought Islamic Courts Union (ICU) militants defending Bandiradley. The fighting pushed the Islamists out ...

. He is also the "Tiger Abdi" of the July 12, 1993

Abdi House Raid The Abdi House raid or Operation Michigan, better known to Somalis as Bloody Monday ( Somali: Isniinta Dhiigii), was a United Nations military operation that took place in Mogadishu on 12 July, 1993, during the UNOSOM II phase of the UN interv ...

, which presaged the

First Battle of Mogadishu The Battle of Mogadishu ( so, Maalintii Rangers, translation=Day of the Rangers), also known as the Black Hawk Down incident, was part of Operation Gothic Serpent. It was fought on 3–4 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of t ...

.Chris Albin-Lackey, Human Rights Watch (Organization), ''"So much to fear": war crimes and the devastation of Somalia'', Human Rights Watch, 2008, p. 44

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awale, Abdi Hasan Presidents of Galmudug Somalian police chiefs Living people Somalian faction leaders 1948 births Somali National Alliance politicians Battle of Mogadishu (1993)