Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed

Abdullahi Yusuf was born on 15 December 1934 in Galkayo, situated in the north-central Mudug region of Somalia. The city was at the time part of Italian Somaliland. His family hailed from the Omar Mahmoud sub clan of the larger Majeerteen Harti Darod clan. For his post-secondary education, Ahmed studied law at the Somali National University in Mogadishu. He later moved abroad to pursue Military Studies. Ahmed was married to Hawa Abdi Samatar. The couple had two sons and two daughters in addition to six grandchildren. ==Military career ==

Ahmed joined the colonial forces of the Trust Territory of Somaliland in 1950. In 1954, he was included in the first batch of Somali military personnel that was taken to Italy for Officer training. The batch included Aidid, Samatar, and Gabeyre. He was promoted to the post of commander in 1960. As a soldier, he participated in the 1964 war against the Ethiopia and was decorated for his actions of valor during the war. Ahmed obtained a degree in Military Topography from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in the former Soviet Union (Военная академия им. М. В. Фрунзе), an elite institution reserved for the most qualified officers of the Warsaw Pact armies and their allies. He received additional military training in Italy. For refusing to support Barre's seizure of power, Ahmed was imprisoned for several years by the new military regime. For his efforts, Ahmed was again decorated for courage, but would remain a Colonel throughout his military career. ==Somali Salvation Democratic Front ==

In 1978, together with a group of officials mainly from his own Majeerteen (Darod) clan, Ahmed participated in an abortive attempt to overthrow Barre's dictatorial administration. The military coup d'état was originally planned for 12 April. However, it was instead hastily carried out a few days earlier, on 9 April, due to fears of potential leaks. Ahmed was at the time in the southern Gedo region and was unaware of the changes to the coup plan. He later learned of the failed putsch via a secured communication network, which contained a coded two sentence message from Col. Abdullahi Ahmed Irro reading "Wife Aborted", dated 11:00 am, 9 April 1978. Most of the people who had helped plot the coup were summarily executed, but Ahmed and several other colonels managed to escape abroad. The Somali Salvation Front (SSF) would go on to absorb its predecessor the Somali Democratic Action Front. The organization was subsequently renamed the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) in 1981 through a merger with the Somali Workers Party and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Somalia. It was the first of several opposition groups dedicated to ousting Barre's regime by force. Ahmed subsequently returned to Somalia. In 1992, he marshalled forces to successfully expel an Islamist extremist group linked to Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya that had taken over Bosaso, a prominent port city and the commercial capital of the northeastern part of the country. He later served as a co-chairman of the National Salvation Council of Somalia, established in 1997. ==President of Puntland==

Abdullahi Yusuf led Somalia's autonomous Puntland region from 1998-2004. The region was largely peaceful under Yusuf's rule except from mid-2001 to mid-2002, when he was deposed over widespread objections to his attempt to lengthen his term of office. In 2000, Yusuf opposed the first attempt to restore a central state when the Transitional National Government (TNG) was created that year at a conference of elders. Due to opposition from the country's many warlords, including Yusuf, the TNG's authority withered within months. Yusuf had used the "war on terror" to justify the operation and claimed Jama supported Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya. Yusuf's government accused Hurre of "association with extremist elements" and targeted him for arrest. While they had claimed his death was accidental, a journalist who had witnessed Surre's death described seeing a deliberate assassination. == Transitional Federal Government ==

Establishment and overview On 10 October 2004, in a session held by the Transitional Federal Parliament in the neighbouring Kenyan capital of Nairobi, Ahmed was elected as President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), an interim federal administrative body that he had helped establish earlier in the year. He received 189 votes from the TFG Parliament, while the closest contender being, former Somali Ambassador to the United States Abdullahi Ahmed Addou, got 79 votes in the third round of voting. The then incumbent President of Somalia, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, peacefully withdrew his candidature. Ahmed was sworn in a few days later on 14 October 2004. I.M. Lewis observes that with significant Ethiopian support, Abdullahi Yusuf was elected as the TFG president, and, under Ethiopian direction, he appointed a prime minister with connections to then-Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. These close connections to Addis Ababa were a driving force behind the invasion and provoked the ICU into later adopting a bellicose stance. In 2004, Yusuf made his first foreign visit as President when he travelled to Ethiopia. During this visit he requested 20,000 Ethiopian troops to back his government. No progress was made in establishing a minimally functional government or creating a civil service over the course of 2005. Internal divisions within Yusuf's government were so serious that open warfare almost broke out between the two TFG factions in September 2005, For the remainder of 2005 the TFG remained deeply divided. So little was achieved over 2005 that some observers argued that March 2005 fight between MPs that had erupted in parliament had been "the only high point for the TFG" as MPs had not simply rubber stamped proposals. The majority of Somali society, including much of the newly formed Transitional Federal Government, deeply opposed any foreign military intervention on Somali soil. Despite significant opposition within the TFG parliament, An African Union fact finding mission to Somalia in 2005 found that the overwhelming majority of Somalis rejected troops from neighboring states entering the country. Insurgency In May 2006, the Second Battle of Mogadishu started and CNN reported that there were interim government forces in action. However, Ahmed told the BBC that the alliance of warlords were not fighting on behalf of the government, and threatened to fire them. Due to a lack of funding and human resources, an arms embargo that made it difficult to re-establish a national security force, and general indifference on the part of the international community, President Ahmed also found himself obliged to deploy thousands of troops from Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the battle against insurgent elements in the southern part of the country. Financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous region's government. This left little revenue for Puntland's own security forces and civil service employees, leaving the territory vulnerable to piracy and terrorist attacks. Assassination attempt On 17 September 2006, a suicide car bomber smashed his vehicle into Ahmed's convoy outside the National Parliament in Baidoa. The attack killed four of Ahmed's bodyguards as well as Ahmed's brother. Six attackers were also slain in the subsequent gun battle. and on 4 January 2008, he collapsed in Baidoa and was taken to Ethiopia for treatment. Two days later, Ahmed was rushed to London for tests. He returned to Mogadishu on 16 February 2008; rebels promptly fired mortars at the presidential compound, reportedly wounding at least five people. Dismissal of government During June 2008, a faction of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia and the TFG signed a ceasefire agreement after months of talks in Djibouti. The agreement was met with resistance from elements within the TFG, chiefly President Yusuf. In the second half of 2008, Ahmed had been at loggerheads with then Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein over a proposed new cabinet, the latter of which Ahmed characterized as nothing more than a "clan deal". On 14 December 2008, Ahmed announced that he had dismissed Hussein and his government, citing corruption, inefficiency, treason and failure to bring peace to the war-torn country as reasons for the dismissal. Earlier in the year, Hussein had survived a vote of no confidence after having been accused by some lawmakers of embezzling state funds. Parliament supported Hussein in a vote on 15 December, but Ahmed nevertheless appointed Mohamoud Mohamed Guled as Prime Minister to replace Hussein on 16 December. On 21 December, Radio Garowe reported that 80 members of parliament held a conference in Baidoa where they all agreed that the vote of confidence in support of Hussein's government never took place. Ismail Ali Nur, who spoke on behalf of the dissenting lawmakers, indicated that Somalia's constitution requires a parliament quorum of no less than 139 MPs present for votes, but that "only 95 MPs" showed up as opposed to the 143 members of parliament claimed by Speaker Adan "Madobe" Mohamed. Nur urged people to "watch video footage recorded from that session." On 24 December, the newly appointed Prime Minister Guled announced his resignation, citing that he did not wish to be "seen as a stumbling block to the peace process which is going well now." Following Guled's resignation, Abdirashid Sed, who was close to President Ahmed, said that Ahmed would announce his resignation and retirement from politics at a special session of Parliament on 29 December. According to Sed, Ahmed made this decision "because he does not want to be seen as an obstacle to peace in Somalia". Impeachment attempt and resignation In December 2008, the TFG parliament moved to impeach President Abdullahi Yusuf, accusing him of being a dictator and an obstacle to peace. On 29 December 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Ahmed expressed regret at failing to end the country's 17-year conflict. Yusuf stated that he had lost control of the country to Islamist insurgents, and blamed the international community for its failure to support the government. He further announced said that the speaker of parliament, Aden "Madobe" Mohamed, would succeed him in office per the Transitional Federal Government's Charter. While it was suggested that Ahmed's resignation added chaos to the country's political landscape as Ethiopia withdrew its troops, some diplomats opined that it might have improved the prospects of striking a deal with the more moderate Islamist insurgents. ==Post-retirement==

. After his exile from Somali politics, Ahmed was initially reported to have flown out of Baidoa back to his native Puntland in the northeast. On 21 January, Al Arabiya reported that Ahmed was granted political asylum in Yemen, where he resided. Yusuf spent the remainder of his life in the United Arab Emirates. ==Death and funeral==

On 23 March 2012, relatives and Radio Mogadishu announced that Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed had died at age 77 from complications due to pneumonia. He had been receiving treatment for several weeks at the Zayed Military Hospital in Abu Dhabi, but had fallen into a coma over the previous few days. Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, which Ahmed had co-founded, declared a three-day period of mourning for the late ruler and appointed a ministerial-level committee for the scheduled funeral proceedings. Somali citizens also offered their condolences and prayers, particularly in the northeastern Puntland region, where Ahmed is regarded as a founding father. in honour of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. Ahmed was flown to the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, where the Bombay army band conducted a military funeral service in his honor and a Janaza prayer was dedicated to him. On 25 March 2012, the former president was then taken to his hometown of Galkacyo for a state burial. A 22-gun salute was fired upon his arrival, and the ensuing funeral ceremony was attended by over two thousand people. Numerous government officials and religious and clan leaders came to pay their last respects, including incumbent Puntland president Abdirahman Mohamud Farole, former Puntland president Mohamud Muse Hersi, TFG president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Prime Minister of Somalia Abdiweli Mohamed Ali. International delegations from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen, among many others, also attended the interment. President Farole gave a brief speech noting that "Abdullahi was a patriotic man whose dedication and rigidness will inspire many to come." In commemoration of the late leader, the Galkayo Airport was officially renamed as the Abdullahi Yusuf International Airport. ==See also==