Hassan Dahir Aweys

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys
الشيخ حسن ضاهر أويس
Born1935 (age 88–89)[1]
NationalitySomali
Alma materGeneral Daud military academy
Occupation(s)SNA colonel
Leader within Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, the ICU, the ARS and Al-Shabaab
Years active1990—2013
Organization(s)Somali Army —1972
Al-Itihaad —1991
ICU (Mahakim) —2000
ARS Asmara wing —2007
Hizbul Islam —2009
Al-Shabaab —2010
Children11

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys (English: Hassan Dahir Aweys (Somali: Xasan Daahir Aweys, (Arabic: حسن طاهر أويس; born 1935) is a Somali Islamist political figure.[2] During the regime of Siad Barre, Aweys was a colonel in the Somali National Army and served in the 1977 Ogaden War against Ethiopia.[3][4][5]

Aweys later came to be a leading figure in Somalia's rising Islamic movements at the start of the Civil War, beginning with Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya from 1991. After the effective dissolution of Al-Itihaad in 1997, he became the head of an Islamic Court in north Mogadishu and eventually rose to a high-ranking position within the Islamic Courts Union until the Ethiopian invasion of 2006. After the invasion he joined the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia and became head of the Asmara wing of the ARS. During the insurgency, his wing of the alliance merged with several groups to form Hizbul Islam.

In 2010, Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab merged, but disputes between Aweys and the Al-Shabaab leadership would result in several attempts on his life and his eventual defection to Federal Government of Somalia in 2013.

  1. ^ "OFAC Recent Actions". Archived from the original on 5 September 2015.
  2. ^ Hoehne, Markus Virgil. "Counter-terrorism in Somalia: How external interference helped to produce militant Islamism" (PDF). p. 13. Retrieved 16 May 2012. As introduced earlier, Hassan Dahir Aweys (Hawiye/Habr Gedir/Ayr/Ayaanle) was a colonel in the Somali army who participated in the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia (1977–1978).
  3. ^ Rice, Xan (26 December 2006). "Retreat fails to quell fears of long war in Horn of Africa". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 January 2007.
  4. ^ "Shabab's brutal warlord sent a message with Kenya mall attack". Los Angeles Times. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Islamists half-ready for holy war". The Economist. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2007.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search