Hassan Dahir Aweys
Hassan Dahir Aweys الشيخ حسن ضاهر أويس | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the Islamic Courts Union Shura Council | |
| In office 24 June 2006 – 27 December 2006 | |
| Deputy | Omar Imam Abubakar |
| Preceded by | Post Established |
| Succeeded by | Post Abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1935 (age 89–90) Dusmareb, Italian Somaliland |
| Nationality | Somali |
| Children | 11 |
| Alma mater | General Daud Military Academy |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Somali Democratic Republic (1972–1983) Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (1991–1997) Islamic Courts Union (2000–2007) Hizbul Islam (2009–2010) |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars | |
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. 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.