The Life of Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys: Founder of Somalia’s Armed Islamist Movement
The Life of Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys: Founder of Somalia’s Armed Islamist Movement
Born in the Galgudud region of Somalia, Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys is a member of Habar Gedir clan of Hawiye sub-clan. Shaykh Aweys is a Somali Islamist and political figure who helped found al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya (AIAI). AIAI at one point in time was Somalia’s largest armed Islamist movement. The founder of AIAI, Shaykh Ali Warsame, formed the group in 1984 in Burao in an attempt to overthrow the former Somalia military ruler Mohamed Siad Barre and recruited Shaykh Aweys (Wardheernews.com, November 13, 2005).
Aweys was a former colonel in the Somali National Army who received awards for bravery during the 1977 Ogaden War. In 1991 following the fall of Somali military ruler Mohamed Siad Barre, he became head of the military wing of AIAI. Under his leadership AIAI rapidly expanded throughout Somalia and into neighboring countries. AIAI launched cross-border attacks into Ethiopia’s southern region of Ogaden, a highly contested area that Somalia contends was mistakenly partitioned by European colonialists into Ethiopia.
Following numerous cross-border attacks by AIAI, Ethiopia retaliated against the Somali border region of Gedo in 1996. Gedo was the first Islamic administration under AIAI in Somalia but the Ethiopian invasion ousted them. After the Ethiopian attack Mohamed Haji Yusuf, a former judge of the High Court of Somalia and ruler of Gedo under AIAI, fled to Kenya while Shaykh Aweys retreated to Mogadishu. Although al-Ittihad lost Gedo and its first attempt at an Islamic state in Somalia, Shaykh Aweys continued on and formed the first Islamic magistrate court in the coastal town of Merca town in the late 1990s.
The war veteran Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys was listed on the United States terror watch list shortly after the September 11th attacks in 2001. His leadership role in al-Ittihad al-Islamiya and their links to al-Qaeda prompted the decision. Aweys strongly denied however having links with al-Qaeda. This denial supports opinions that Shaykh Aweys is more an example of a moderate Islamist than the ideological forefather of militant Islamist organizations such as al-Shabaab.
When interviewed in Mogadishu in November 2006, Shaykh Hassan argued that it is his passion for Islam that secured his place on the U.S. terrorist watch list. He stated that the West is wary of his drive to establish an Islamic state in Somalia: “It may not good for U.S. or the West but it is good for Somalia.” He was convinced that Islam is the only solution for Somalia and that an Islamic government has the ability to unite all Somalis despite factionalism and tribalism. Inclusion on the U.S. terror list did not prohibit Shaykh Aweys from spreading his campaign and he has since traveled freely to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Eritrea. [1]
After a period of transition, Shaykh Aweys merged the separate clan-based Islamic courts to form the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in 2006 which became Somalia’s strongest militia. The ICU also defeated the U.S.-backed Mogadishu warlords, Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), in June 2006. Aweys was named head of the Council of the Islamic Courts – the parliament of ICU, while Sharif Shaykh Ahmed – the current president of Somalia, served as chairman of the Islamic Courts Union.
In mere months the ICU grew throughout Somalia with the exception of Baidoa, the home of the Somali Transitional Federal Government. With the popularity of ICU assured in 2006, Shaykh Aweys approached the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) with a proposition. If the TFG and President Col. Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed agreed to relocate to Mogadishu and govern Somalia according to Islamic law, the ICU would back them.
As leader of the Somalia’s most powerful militia Shaykh Aweys regularly engaged with and defeated the TFG and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in military strikes. But he realized that removing TFG forcibly would be a blow against ICU’s legitimacy amongst international donors and allies with foreign military presences in the region.
The civil populace, who felt a sense of continuity and protection under the administration of the courts, could have conceivably backed ICU in a war against TFG. Yet Shaykh Aweys was keen to reach an agreement with the TFG and establish a unified Islamic state. Accordingly in June 2006, Shaykh Aweys’ ICU recognized the legality of the TFG while the TFG recognized the reality of ICU during negotiations in Khartoum, Sudan.
Mr. Aweys and his former close friend President Sharif Shaykh Ahmed disagreed on many topics, among them was the TFG’s decision to initiate talks with Ethiopia before the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somali soil. Then the spiritual leader of the Somali Islamists, Aweys formed Hizbul Islam (Party of Islam), which brought together the Asmara, Eritrea wing of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), the Ras Kamboni Movement previously led by Hassan al-Turki, Jabhat ul Islamiya and Muaskar Anole to unify and escalate the fight against the Somali government. In April 2009 Aweys returned to Somalia, ending two years in exile, and was welcomed by President Sharif Shaykh Ahmed who hinted at the possibility of talks. By then however Aweys regarded the Transitional Federal Government as an instrument imposed by foreigners including the African Union Peacekeepers in Somalia who he described as a “bacteria”. A few weeks after Aweys’ return, Hizbul Islam’s leader Dr. Shaykh Omar Iman Abubakar resigned in favor of Colonel Aweys taking over the leadership of the group.
On May 9, 2009, in alliance with Al-Shabaab, Aweys made his final attempt at toppling the government of Sharif. The attack on Sharif’s presidential palace failed and it was rumored, later debunked with a radio appearance, that Aweys had died. After this attack Aweys was usurped by his successors who had become more radicalized than him and were the leaders of Al-Shabaab. Shaykh Aweys’ moderate viewpoint including his involvement with ARS, a conglomeration of ousted ICU leaders and Somali parliament leaders – who al-Shabaab considered infidels, did little to separate him from President Sharif in the leadership of al-Shabaab’s view.
A power struggle between Aweys’ Hizbul Islam and the extremist group al-Shabaab openly erupted in the lucrative port town of Kismayo on September 2009 following numerous assassinations of Hizbul Islam officers by al-Shabaab. The Ras Kamboni wing of Hizbul Islam, resident in Kismayo, was forced to flee. Shaykh Aweys condemned al-Shabaab for their offensive against his group. Al-Shabaab continued its attacks and captured areas controlled by Hizbul Islam. To appease al-Shabaab leadership, Mr. Aweys pushed out Ras Kamboni, whose leader al-Shabaab also accused of being an infidel, from Hizbul Islam.
By December 2010, al-Shabaab had begun to dominate Hizbul Islam and Aweys later merged Hizbul Islam’s fighters with al-Shabaab. Since that time Shaykh Aweys has not been a popular leader in the al-Shabaab fight. In fact he seems to be a man overthrown by his ‘children’ – the very Islamists that he taught and sheltered in his fight for AIAI in the 1980s and 1990s. And yet Shaykh Aweys seems unable to realize that he has been set aside. He began to condemn al-Shabaab’s actions and fueled the leadership struggle between Shaykh Muqtar Robow aka Abu Mansoor and Ahmed Abdi Godane known as Shaykh Mukhtar Ali Zubeyr. Shaykh Aweys backed Abu Mansoor’s bid to force Abu Subeyr to resign as the group’s leader.
Aside from struggles to regain prominence in the leadership of Somalia’s Islamist movements, Shaykh Aweys has also been miscontrued by the West. He is a man labeled as an extremist who could be better considered a nationalist with strong critiques of a secular state. Arguably he is as moderate as Shaykh Sharif but the West never favored his approach or tactics which pushed him to ally with the next major group in the field – al-Shabaab. In many ways, Mr. Aweys has shown that he is not only with al-Shabaab for their ideologies and actions but rather for their reach and ability to stay relevant. A prime example of this is his condemnation towards al-Shabaab leadership for the suicide attack which killed Somali Defense Minister Omar Hashi Aden in 2009. Shaykh Aweys has been willing to work with the Somali government in the past and his moderate leadership style conflicts with al-Shabaab’s uncompromising militancy.
Notes
1. Author’s interview with Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Mogadishu, Somalia, November 2006.
2. Author’s interview with Shaykh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Asmara, Eritrea, November 2009.
In country research by author in Mogadishu, Somalia also contributed to this report.
