Hassan Dahir Aweys
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys (English: Hassan Dahir Aweys (Somali: Xasan Daahir Aweys, (Arabic: حسن طاهر أويس; born 1935) is a Somali Islamist political figure. During the regime of Siad Barre, Aweys was a colonel in the Somali National Army and served in the 1977 Ogaden War against Ethiopia.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys الشيخ حسن ضاهر أويس | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1935 (age 88–89) |
| Nationality | Somali |
| Alma mater | General Daud military academy |
| Occupation(s) | SNA colonel Leader within Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, the ICU, the ARS and Al-Shabaab |
| Years active | 1990—2013 |
| Organization(s) | Somali Army —1972 Al-Itihaad —1991 ICU (Mahakim) —2000 ARS Asmara wing —2007 Hizbul Islam —2009 Al-Shabaab —2010 |
| Children | 11 |
Aweys later came to be a leading figure in Somalia's rising Islamic movements at the start of the Civil War, beginning with Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya from 1991. After the effective dissolution of Al-Itihaad in 1997, he became the head of an Islamic Court in north Mogadishu and eventually rose to a high-ranking position within the Islamic Courts Union until the Ethiopian invasion of 2006. After the invasion he joined the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia and became head of the Asmara wing of the ARS. During the insurgency, his wing of the alliance merged with several groups to form Hizbul Islam.
In 2010, Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab merged, but disputes between Aweys and the Al-Shabaab leadership would result in several attempts on his life and his eventual defection to Federal Government of Somalia in 2013.