BRIEF HISTORY: Dr Hassan Mohamed Nur "Shaatigaduud"

by, Prof. Mohamed Haji Mukhtar
Thursday, April 04, 2013

"Hassan Mohamed Nur, affectionately known as Hassanow Manur by his friends and colleagues, passed away on Tuesday April 2, 2013, in Bonn, Germany. Recipient of Hero Award from Center for Peace- Building Initiative/Peace & Development Research in their annual meeting in London, UK on February 4, 2012. Leader of the Reewin Resistance Army (RRA) and a powerful officer in the former National Security Service (NSS). Shargaduud “Red Shirt” was born in Baidoa and earned a military degree with a specialization in telecommunications 1969 at the Modena Military Academy in Italy.

He was also trained in military intelligence in the 1980s in Cairo, Egypt, Rome Italy, Berlin, East Germany and Moscow, the Soviet Union. In 1978, he earned a law degree from the Somali National University (SNU). Shargaduud served as the regional commander of the NSS in the Jubada Hoose, Lower Juba region in 1972-1975 and the Waqoyi Galbed, Northwestern region in 1980-1982; in this period, he was also the president of the Hargeisa Security Court. In 1977-1980, he was the presiding judge of the Mohgadishu Security Court. Shargaduud was governor of Gedo region in 1982-1984 and until the fall of the Mohamed Siad Barre regime, he served in several different security positions, including aide-de-camp to President Barre.

During the civil war, Shargaduud was active in reconciliation efforts. After the Djibouti Conference of June-July, 1991, he was included in the first Transitional National Government as Minister of Interior. In 1994, he became a member of the Digil-Mirifle Supreme Governing Council (DMSGC). Shargaduud’s political importance comes with the formation in 1995 of the RRA, which he was a cofounder with Malak Mukhtar Malak Hassan and cohort of dignitaries. At Jhaffey, west of Baidoa where the RRA was found on October 13, 1995, Shargadud, was elected chair and the leader of this revolutionary movement, the first organized military movement in the contemporary history of the Digi-Mirifle people.Continued