Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud
Colone;
Personal life
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]
Career
Rahanweyn Resistance Army
Following the start of the civil war in 1991, Shatigadud acted as the leader of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA). The rebel group was founded in September 1995 to oppose the invasion of the southwestern Bay and Bakool regions by Mohamed Farah Aideed's Somali National Alliance (SNA).
For a time, the RRA later supported an initiative to form a new Transitional National Government (TNG) under President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.
President of Southwestern Somalia
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.[1][2] 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.[2]
Internal disputes developed between Shatigadud, who wished to support the new Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), and his two deputies, Sheikh Aden 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.[3] Habsade continued to meet with TNG leaders ostensibly with the hope of being part of the nascent national government.[4] 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.
References
- ^ "SOMALIA: RRA sets up autonomous region". IRIN. 1 April 2002. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
- ^ a b "Third autonomous region breaks with Somalia". Afrol News. 2 March 2002. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
- ^ "Baidoa uneasy as RRA leaders wrangle". IRIN. 27 June 2002. Retrieved 4 February 2007.
- ^ "SOMALIA: RRA leaders in talks with TNG". IRIN. 2 September 2002. Retrieved 4 February 2007.