Sheikh Dahir Aweys; Best leader of the current era?

[Somaliman50]

If a split within the rank and file of Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants was a mere speculation, it has now become a reality, thanks to a lacerating Friday sermon by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Somalia’s best known holy warrior.
In a rare public dissent, Aweys sharply attacked the organization’s top brass, accusing them of, among other things, monopolizing jihad, globalizing the Somali conflict, assassination of innocent Somalis and, more damningly, acting in a manner unbecoming of upright jihadists.
For Aweys, who’s in his 70s, the public break-up with al-Shabaab is both personal and, more importantly, political.
Personal vengeance
As Somalia’s foremost jihadist and a perennial antagonist, Aweys has led one of the most eventful careers in the Horn of African nation. He had jumped ship countless times, starting from his days as a senior officer in the Somali National Army. In 1996, when Ethiopia obliterated al-Ittihad al-Islami, the successful jihadist outfit he helped establish and led, he reoriented himself as an Islamic scholar and clan elder in Mogadishu.
A decade later, he also helped establish the Union of Islamic Courts. It too was crushed by Ethiopia in 2006. Aweys fled to Eritrea where he helped form the Alliance for Re-Liberation of Somalia. The ARS was Aweys’ most ambitious project, as it comprised Islamists, secular politicians, nationalists, diaspora leaders and traditional elders.
When the moderate leadership of the ARS decided to negotiate with the Somali government in 2008, and eventually formed a national unity government in 2009, Aweys jumped ship again. With the help of Eritrea, he returned to Mogadishu in the spring of 2009 and launched Hizbul-Islam, an outfit he imagined to be an alternative to al-Shabaab’s extreme ideology. He hoped to place his organization at the centre of Somali politics.
But al-Shabaab was determined to gobble up its rivals. By late 2010, Aweys was forced to sign a contract under duress and merge with al-Shabaab. In taking this decision, Aweys told a close associate that he had three “disastrous options and a bad option.” Firstly, to refuse joining the Shabaab and be killed. Secondly, to impose a self-exile, which at his age and with “the terrorist brand” hovering over him, was an impossible option. Thirdly, to join the Somali government, which is “categorically much worse humiliation than joining al-Shabaab.” He took the bad option and surrendered to the Shabaab.
Just days after he had merged with al-Shabaab, he met with the organization’s reclusive leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane — a man Aweys looks at condescendingly. In that meeting, Aweys was hoping to be rewarded for merging with al-Shabaab by being given his favourite post: the supreme leader, an Ayatollah-type position he held in the UIC, which grants him power without responsibility. Aweys’ jihad credentials are certainly commensurate with such a prestigious position, but to his chagrin, Godane demoted him to “holy warrior” – a title held even by al-Shabaab’s child soldiers.
This was an affront to the most veteran jihadist in Somalia. In the past year and half, Aweys — and other demoted leaders such as Mukhar Robow Abu Mansour — have sought to “solve the issue internally,” but to no avail. With no redress, they’ve waited for an opportune time to split from al-Shabaab, whose leaders formally joined al-Qaeda in February. The militants are rapidly losing power and popularity.
For Aweys, the perfect storm is blowing in his direction. There’s simply no better time to exact revenge against Godane and his junior deputies, who have humiliated him and other veteran jihadists. For nearly two years, he had to endure the painful reality of being irrelevant — something he had never accepted.
Political machinations
But the break-up is also deeply political. A rare window of political opportunity is opening up in Somalia in a few months. The mandate of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is expiring in August, and an internationally-backed, UN-brokered arrangement is laying the ground for “an inclusive process” that would presumably include all parties of the country in the next government.
Inherently, Aweys is a very ambitious politician who’s more hell-bent on becoming the president of Somalia than blowing himself up in a suicide mission. In fact, a primary reason why he refused to join the 2008 Djibouti Agreement (that resulted in the formation of the TFG) was that he wasn’t going to become the next president. Aweys also knows the recent history of Somali “peace processes,” which invariably reward the guy with biggest and loudest guns.
In the short term, Aweys is likely to repackage himself as a nationalist insurgent leader. There are credible reports that, in association with Robow, Aweys will form yet another outfit that will present itself as the principal domestic opposition group to the TFG. To gain traction and both financial and popular support, Aweys is likely to rail against the unauthorized Ethiopian interventions in southern Somalia. Despite al-Shabaab’s brutality in these regions, the Ethiopian intervention is a powerful recruiting tool for any organization in Somalia, including the Shabaab. The two countries have a century-old rivalry.
Still, al-Shabaab’s global jihadists, led by Godane, will not let Aweys and his cabal breakaway without a fight. Aweys and Robow, who hail from powerful clans in central and southern Somalia, are already preparing for what could be the bloodiest infighting within the “mujaahideen.” But even if the ‘nationalists’, who are outgunned, are defeated in the initial battles, Godane’s global jihadists will be the ultimate losers of the war, because they’d have to dedicate separate resources for fending off attacks from four fronts, all the while putting down an internal revolt.
In the final analysis, the split within the Shabaab is yet another chapter in Somalia’s extraordinarily complex political system, where alliances shift constantly. The break-up presents another dilemma for the international community, as it attempts to help Somalia resuscitate itself from 20 years of state collapse. Yet the self-immolation of al-Shabaab is a step closer to ending one of Somalia’s most brutal episodes.
Abdi Aynte is a journalist with Al Jazeera English.

http://africanarguments.org/2012/04/04/ ... bdi-aynte/

[Somaliman50]

this man, by a huge margin is one of my favourites in somalia. being a spectator, i think sheikhuna hassan shows courage in what he believes. though some say he is a power hungry individual and a warmonger, he is the only leader right now who has shown relative immunity from clannism and extremism, and anything inbetween. he has always championed the right for somalis to endorse an islamic state free from interference by spiteful enemies.

[Eaglehawk]

Sheikh Dahir Aweys needs more then image makeover; he needs a new life and new personality he is politically damaged irreversibly

he crossed the threshold of what is rehabilitatable and lost cause when he united hizbul islam with al shabab
Remember when dahir aways returned from asmara, people where hoping that he might reconcile with sheik sharif but dahir aways rejected that and dahir aways had thi this uppity attitude toward sharif when he came from mogadishu

again in 2010 dahir aways got another chance and people urged him not join al shabab formally but he took hizbul islam and joined al shabab
dahir aways is a terrorist for life

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me

[Nomand]

Sheikh Dahir Aweys needs more then image makeover; he needs a new life and new personality he is politically damaged irreversibly

he crossed the threshold of what is rehabilitatable and lost cause when he united hizbul islam with al shabab
Remember when dahir aways returned from asmara, people where hoping that he might reconcile with sheik sharif but dahir aways rejected that and dahir aways had thi this uppity attitude toward sharif when he came from mogadishu

again in 2010 dahir aways got another chance and people urged him not join al shabab formally but he took hizbul islam and joined al shabab
dahir aways is a terrorist for life

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me

he just done what sharif did to abdullahi yusuf.

walle in the end whatever a person tries to con and trick the same will be used against him. this is somali history post 1991.

[Nomand]

--

[Somaliman50]

of course he is not free from err and he has erred on many occassions. sharif betrayed the brotherhood between them and did not respect what they agreed upon in the first place. even beyond that, hasan dahir did not exclude sharif entirely but said he would reconcile if the sharif regime made certain reforms. the article itself mentions he had little choice but to unite with shabab. he didnt want division amongst his comrades and he certainly opposed the tfg. people will argue he is anti-establishment and a born rebel, but dahir aweys has shown that he will abide by a government that does not permit foreign troops on somali territory. when abdulahi yusuf was elected in 2004 he said he would respect his govt if it was just and fair but over time we all know what went wrong with the tfg.

again today, hassan dahir does not permit harming the shacab and defends the innocent if they are wronged.

[Advo]

I can no longer respect Aweys, waa power hungry opportunist like the seculars except on the opposite corner. I gave him benefit of the doubt because he showed in theory that he "cares" about the people when shabaab were indiscriminately killing the innocent , a little too late now if he goes againt shabaab he will be killed and there's no way the international community will allow him to become the president. At this point, he should just call it quits.

[Somaliman50]

forget the IC, some of his own allies will abandon him if he rose to power. in somalia, as long as the people have guns, there will always be an armed challenge against authority. its a case of survival and false illusions of strength. our question is, who of those are legitimate?

[Eaglehawk]

nin hawiye ka dhashay ciil gama baxo, dahir aways saga is shame of hawiye, sheik sharif should never have taken cad qurun meaning djoubuti agreement, its that agreement that polarized alliance for the reliberation of somalia

hawiye never wanted federal government and djoibuti agreement legitimized the embagati dubious process and sharif took it while dahir aways in essence is against federalism and joining al shabab and seeing al shabab victorious is his way of delegitimizing and dismantling the federalism process that was started in 2004

One of the reasons people feared farmaajo was that he wanted to negotiate with dahir aways while he outright rejecting godane group
A lot of Somali faction didn`t want mr farmaajo negotiate with nationalistic faction of al shabab which includes dahir aways because people feared that such negations will lead to new power sharing structure and new political system

remember the tfg is build upon War on terror principles and once there are no terrorist to fight, sheik sharif (djubuti agreement group) and embagati group would lose power
dahir aways is well known wa oday somaliyeed but events have pushed him in a corner.

[luis1]

Sheik Aweys is a killer.
Sheik Aweys and Al Shabbab are coward.

[Somaliman50]

eagle, arintaan waa mid soomaali idilkeeda khuseeya, and hasan dahir is beyond inter-hawiye politics. waliba wuxuu kamid yahay kuwii kaa badbaadiyey kaartadii caydiid marka odayga ha xaqirin. hasan dahir rejected the djibouti agreement because sharif went against the ARS group accord. nothing more nothing less.

power sharing structure? xaal qaado sxb, every pm of the tfg has followed the same policy with shabab uptil now where i think gaas recently suggested an all out offence. your looking at this issue with clan lenses and that is simply not being realistic. dahir aweys is in the same camp as roobow and turki, they are all somalis at heart and wish to see peace like the days of the maxaakim. thats all.

[Eaglehawk]

eagle, arintaan waa mid soomaali idilkeeda khuseeya, and hasan dahir is beyond inter-hawiye politics. waliba wuxuu kamid yahay kuwii kaa badbaadiyey kaartadii caydiid marka odayga ha xaqirin. hasan dahir rejected the djibouti agreement because sharif went against the ARS group accord. nothing more nothing less.

power sharing structure? xaal qaado sxb, every pm of the tfg has followed the same policy with shabab uptil now where i think gaas recently suggested an all out offence. your looking at this issue with clan lenses and that is simply not being realistic. dahir aweys is in the same camp as roobow and turki, they are all somalis at heart and wish to see peace like the days of the maxaakim. thats all.

bro turki is not like dahir aways, dahir aways is humilited guy who was humiliated by his own kin, roobow is protected by his own kin like xaabsade while barre hiiraale avoided turki until ICU over threw him

There is a clannish undertone to the dahir aways saga

The asmara group got tribelized and every guy returned to siyasada tolka, dahir aways realy wanted somalinimo and islamnimo but certain people saw the fight against ethiopia as not their fight and abgaal clan took the geedi ethiopia plan of gradual disengagement of ethiopia as part of djoubuti process meaning the political infrastructure that Ethiopia supported stays in place with minimal change of leadership at the top and aways took the moral high ground and rected that deal


and about farmaajo the galgaduud conection run deep, if mr farmaajo stayed any longer dahir aways would have been of the terror list as part of the somali peace process believe me I know what am saying

[Somaliman50]

eagle, arintaan waa mid soomaali idilkeeda khuseeya, and hasan dahir is beyond inter-hawiye politics. waliba wuxuu kamid yahay kuwii kaa badbaadiyey kaartadii caydiid marka odayga ha xaqirin. hasan dahir rejected the djibouti agreement because sharif went against the ARS group accord. nothing more nothing less.

power sharing structure? xaal qaado sxb, every pm of the tfg has followed the same policy with shabab uptil now where i think gaas recently suggested an all out offence. your looking at this issue with clan lenses and that is simply not being realistic. dahir aweys is in the same camp as roobow and turki, they are all somalis at heart and wish to see peace like the days of the maxaakim. thats all.

bro turki is not like dahir aways, dahir aways is humilited guy who was humiliated by his own kin, roobow is protected by his own kin like xaabsade while barre hiiraale avoided turki until ICU over threw him

There is a clannish undertone to the dahir aways saga

The asmara group got tribelized and every guy returned to siyasada tolka, dahir aways realy wanted somalinimo and islamnimo but certain people saw the fight against ethiopia as not their fight and abgaal clan took the geedi ethiopia plan of gradual disengagement of ethiopia as part of djoubuti process meaning the political infrastructure that Ethiopia supported stays in place with minimal change of leadership at the top and aways took the moral high ground and rected that deal


and about farmaajo the galgaduud conection run deep, if mr farmaajo stayed any longer dahir aways would have been of the terror list as part of the somali peace process believe me I know what am saying

roobow and turki have a completely different history, they just simply share the love for alsahwa alislamiyah walshareeah. but aweys has been in positions of leadership since the 80s. he has his fingers in more pies than anyone else. there is no sheikh who can rally aid from his own allies that are based as far as burco and las qoray than aweys. this is why he is above clan politics. he challenged aideed and fought against habashis numerous occasions, no major leader has done this within the civil war era. roobow and turki were either in their own private camps or followers of the larger aweys saga. also, the asmara group never got tribalised at any instant but it has become defunct the moment when aweys returned to somalia and set up hisbul islaam. aweys made the mistake of aligning all anti tfg elements into asmara including husein aideed, jama qhaalib and jama ali jama, three guys who hail from completely different political school of thoughts. he wanted to show somalis that he was sincere about his cause but people like indhacadde and husein aideed have tarnished his cause.

second time youve mentioned farmaajo now. you must understand that aweys has no undercover supporters within the tfg. sharif who is his fellow hiraab folk show each other no love today, even though sharif has suggested removing aweys from the terror list himself.

[Eaglehawk]

eagle, arintaan waa mid soomaali idilkeeda khuseeya, and hasan dahir is beyond inter-hawiye politics. waliba wuxuu kamid yahay kuwii kaa badbaadiyey kaartadii caydiid marka odayga ha xaqirin. hasan dahir rejected the djibouti agreement because sharif went against the ARS group accord. nothing more nothing less.

power sharing structure? xaal qaado sxb, every pm of the tfg has followed the same policy with shabab uptil now where i think gaas recently suggested an all out offence. your looking at this issue with clan lenses and that is simply not being realistic. dahir aweys is in the same camp as roobow and turki, they are all somalis at heart and wish to see peace like the days of the maxaakim. thats all.

bro turki is not like dahir aways, dahir aways is humilited guy who was humiliated by his own kin, roobow is protected by his own kin like xaabsade while barre hiiraale avoided turki until ICU over threw him

There is a clannish undertone to the dahir aways saga

The asmara group got tribelized and every guy returned to siyasada tolka, dahir aways realy wanted somalinimo and islamnimo but certain people saw the fight against ethiopia as not their fight and abgaal clan took the geedi ethiopia plan of gradual disengagement of ethiopia as part of djoubuti process meaning the political infrastructure that Ethiopia supported stays in place with minimal change of leadership at the top and aways took the moral high ground and rected that deal


and about farmaajo the galgaduud conection run deep, if mr farmaajo stayed any longer dahir aways would have been of the terror list as part of the somali peace process believe me I know what am saying

roobow and turki have a completely different history, they just simply share the love for alsahwa alislamiyah walshareeah. but aweys has been in positions of leadership since the 80s. he has his fingers in more pies than anyone else. there is no sheikh who can rally aid from his own allies that are based as far as burco and las qoray than aweys. this is why he is above clan politics. he challenged aideed and fought against habashis numerous occasions, no major leader has done this within the civil war era. roobow and turki were either in their own private camps or followers of the larger aweys saga. also, the asmara group never got tribalised at any instant but it has become defunct the moment when aweys returned to somalia and set up hisbul islaam. aweys made the mistake of aligning all anti tfg elements into asmara including husein aideed, jama qhaalib and jama ali jama, three guys who hail from completely different political school of thoughts. he wanted to show somalis that he was sincere about his cause but people like indhacadde and husein aideed have tarnished his cause.

second time youve mentioned farmaajo now. you must understand that aweys has no undercover supporters within the tfg. sharif who is his fellow hiraab folk show each other no love today, even though sharif has suggested removing aweys from the terror list himself.

The highlited part gives me more info about dahir aways political character then you think, the guys you mentioned where part if siyasada cabdiqasim so it’s by defacto siyasada cayr which has its origin in TNG government of carte

All I know is If was hawiye I would find reconciliation for dahir aways if the old guy dies or gets humiliated more hawiye will never have peace and I can swear certain high political figures assassination will become the norm

[Somaliman50]

they were part of the tng, so what? does hussein aideed being part of arpct means aweys was pro-warlords? aweys simply congregated all big names who were allied in opposition to the tfg at the time and that included civil society members, some icu heads, exwarlords etc. it was a long way from the qabiil jabhads that signified somali fragmentation. like i said, as a spectator i clearly notice that aweys has made major errors like when he openly spoke out against certain clans in a speech. hopefully he will redeem himself in time to make real change in our current situation.