Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdiid


Abdi Hasan Awale or Abdi Qeybdiid was born in 1948 in Galkacyo, Somalia. He is a member of the Sacad sub-clan of the Habar Gedir clan.
He was elected on August 1, 2012, as the new president of Galmudug state, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia. In December 2006, he led an engagement on behalf of the Transitional Federal Government, backed by a sizable contingent of Ethiopian troops, known as the Battle of Bandiradley. He is also the "tiger Abdi" of the July 12, 1993 Abdi House Raid, which presaged the First Battle of Mogadishu.

Career synopsis

Qeybdiid rose to prominence as Mohammed Farrah Aidid's interior minister in its clashes with UN forces during the so-called "nation-building" phase of UNOSOM II in 1993.
In 1993, an assault force of Delta Force commandos backed up by nearly 140 United States Army Rangers and four US Army Special Forces operators under the command of Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison and Col. Lee Van Arsdale captured Qeybdiid together with Osman Ali Atto. He stayed in American custody for some months. The arrest is portrayed in the film Black Hawk Down.
By 2001, he was the chief of police over Mogadishu as part of the new Transitional National Government.
In 2006, he fought with the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism against the Islamic Courts Union in the Second Battle of Mogadishu. They surrendered on 11 July 2006, the last Alliance forces to do so.
In late 2006, after retreating from Mogadishu, he fought under the name of the newly formed autonomous region known as Galmudug but without any known affiliation or permission as yet. He led its forces, fighting alongside Ethiopia and Puntland allies, in the Battle of Bandiradley.
On January 1, 2007, he returned to Mogadishu where he pleaded for there to be no reprisals against the defeated Islamists.