Division 21,
Somali National Army
The Somali National Army ( Somali: ''Xooga Dalka Soomaaliyeed,'' lit. ''"Somali Ground Forces"'') is the ground forces component of the Somali Armed Forces, and is the largest out of the three service branches that make up the majority of the A ...
(Somali: ''Qeybta 21aad'') is a
division of the
Somali Armed Forces. It has been active in two periods from the 1970s to about 1990 (though being upgraded in status in the process to the level of a corps), and then dissolved amid the first phase of the
Somali Civil War. It was reestablished on 30 August 2013. In both periods it has supervised military forces in the
Dhusamareb area, in what is now
Galmudug, in the central part of Somalia.
Mohamud Muse Hersi was listed by somaliaonline.com as commander of Division 21 from 1970 to 1972; it later took part in the
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali War (, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orineti), was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the Ethiopi ...
in 1977-78. Following the 1977–78 Ogaden campaign,
Abudwak
Abudwak ( so, Caabudwaaq) is a city located in central Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somal ...
became the division's base. In the late 1980s the division had grown in size to a corps-sized sector responsible for several weak divisions.
On 30 August 2013 it was placed under the command of Colonel Sulub Ahmed Dirie. The division’s primary task was to reintegrate the
Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ) Sufi militia in Galgaduud into the army, but Brigade 11 also came under its control. In early January 2014, Colonel Dirie addressed the graduation of 600 personnel from training there.
[http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2014/Jan/52775/hundreds_of_newly_trained_forces_join_somali_army.aspx, Hiiraan Online, 4 January 2014.] In early 2014, ASWJ refused further integration, and the division lost most of its importance. The division was chased out of Dhuusamareb in June 2015 when ASWJ took the town.
Notes
References
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Divisions (military units)
Military of Somalia
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