Musa Sudi Yalahow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muse Sudi Yalahow (Somali: Muuse Suudi Yalaxoow) is a Somali warlord who served as Trade Minister in the Transitional Government of Ali Mohammed Ghedi. He was dismissed in June 2006 after ignoring government requests to halt fighting with the Islamic Courts Union militia.
In March 2001 his militia kidnapped nine aid workers from Medicins sans Frontieres who were vaccinating children against polio. In October 2005 he threatened to shoot down any plane flying over the capital, Mogadishu. In February 2006 the joined the United States-backed warlord coalition, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism in order to fight the Islamic Court Union. Fighting between the ICU and ARPCT claimed more than 350 lives and Yalahow's militia occupied the ICRC-run Kensaney hospital. On June 5 he withdrew from Mogadishu to the warlord stronghold of Balad, a town 30 km north of Mogadishu, which was also taken by the ICU days later.
The Somali Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Ghedi said Yalahow had opposed his government and peace initiatives and undermined their reconciliation activities. He said Yalahow's actions fuelled violence and unrest and his militia had killed innocent civilians.
[edit] Notes and references
- Somali gunmen attack aid workers, BBC News, 27 March 2001
- International Criminal Court Asked to Charge Somali Warlord Against War Crimes, allAfrica.com, 1 June 2006
- Somali warlord threatens planes, BBC News, 28 October 2005
- Somalia PM sacks US-backed warlords, Middle East Online, 5 June 2006
- Somali Islamists seize capital after fierce battles with warlords, AFP, 5 June 2006
- picture