Aden Abdullahi Nur
Aden Abdullahi Nur "Gabyow", was a Somali military officer, politician and faction leader who held senior roles in the Somali National Army.
Early years
Gabyow was born on 10 October 1920 in Mado Gashi, in the Northern Frontier District, then under British rule. He completed his primary education in Garissa, the district capital.In 1941, he joined the British Colonial Army in charge of the Horn of Africa, the King's African Rifles, in the third battalion. He trained in Jinja under British rule. In 1943, he was assigned to Jijiga, the main base of the King's African Rifles in the Ethiopian Somali Region, and was promoted to sergeant. Gabyow later served in British Malaya in the 1940s and 1950s.
Career
In 1963, Gabyow became a platoon leader in the newly formed Kenya Army. In 1970, he traveled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and was sent to Mogadishu by the Somali embassy. Because of his 27 years of experience in combat operations in Asia, he was sent to the Soviet Union for four years of training. Upon his return, he was promoted to head of a new police station and was later appointed head of Halane military training station in 1976. In the same year, he was promoted to the rank of colonel.After heading the Halane military training station, Somali President Siad Barre nominated Gabyow as Minister of Defense. However, following a conflict with Barre, he was arrested and imprisoned in 1988.
Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM)
The Somali Patriotic Movement was formed in 1985, as a result of a split within the Somali Salvation Democratic Front by military dissidents from Gabyow's Ogaden clan. In 1988, they demanded the release of Gabyow and encouraged officers from their Ogaden clan to resign, leading to the defection of Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess. Gabyow's firing contributed to a conflict that had been building for years. In March 1989, soldiers of the Ogaden mutinied in Kismayo, and fighting continued until government troops gained the upper hand in July.Civil War
In January 1991, the government of Siad Barre was toppled in Mogadishu by the Hawiye-dominated United Somali Congress. In February 1991, fighting erupted between the USC and the SPM in Afgoye. The SPM were forced to flee south to Kismayo, where they joined other Darod who had fled from Mogadishu. In April of the same year, the SPM lost control of Kismayo, and the USC captured the city at the end of the month, pushing the SPM/SNF south of Dhobley.Gabyow was released in 1991 when the USC overran the capital. Following the defeat of SPM, various Darod factions, including the SPM, SSDF, and SNF, regrouped under the banner of SPM. Gabyow was appointed the new chairman of SPM, taking over from Colonel Biliqo, and Jess became the military commander. General Morgan was given charge of the police. The SPM recaptured Kismayo and Barawa in June 1991.
Following their defeat, the Darod factions, including the SPM, SSDF and SNF, regrouped under the banner of the SPM. Internal Darod conflicts over land were overshadowed by the anti-Darod rhetoric from Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who proclaimed his intention of clearing all Darod from Somalia. Gabyow was appointed the new chairman of the SPM, and Jess the military commander. General Morgan was given charge of the police. The election of Gabyow as chairman led to a rift between Gabyow and Jess, reportedly because Gabyow was elected chairman to ensure the support of his Awlihan clan, which had previously supported Jess.
In June 1991, the SPM recaptured Kismayo and Brava. Afterwards, USC successfully defeated the second attempt to retake Mogadishu.
In December 1991, during the re-election of the SPM chairman, Gabyow combined forces with Morgan, who led SSDF/SPM, to remove Jess's forces from Kismayo and Brava. Jess then allied with General Mohamed Farrah Aideed's USC, which became known as the Somali Liberation Army. Their combined forces pushed Gabyow and Morgan out of Kismayo, forcing Siad Barre into exile in April 1992. Following this victory, Aideed and Jess formed the Somali National Alliance, combining with the SDM and the SSNM. As a result of a US-led UN-sanctioned intervention in Somalia, the Unified Task Force (UNITAF) took control of Kismayo. When the forces withdrew, the city once again remained under the control of an alliance of SPM/SSDF/SNF forces.
Cairo Peace Conference
General Gabyow was among 25 delegates who attended the Cairo Peace Conference in 1998. Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Gabyow left the Cairo talks and later announced their rejection of the Cairo Declaration. Gabyow accused Hussein Aideed, son of Aideed, and the Egyptian government of instigating violence in Kismayo, but both the Egyptian authorities and Aideed denied any involvement.Both General Morgan and Gabyow belonged to the Darod clan, which felt marginalized by the political dominance of the Hawiye due to the legitimacy the Cairo Declaration gave to two other Somali Hawiye: Hussein Farrah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Muhammad. The Cairo Declaration subsequently failed after signatories, including Aideed, had refused to disarm.
In 2000, Gabyow was among several leaders calling for a federal system in Somalia.