Dahir Riyale Kahin

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3rd Vice President of Somaliland
Dahir Rayale Kahin

3rd President of Somaliland
In office May 3, 2002 – Present
Vice President(s)	Ahmed Yusuf Yasin
Preceded by	Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal
Succeeded by	Incumbent
In office February 23, 1997 – May 5, 2002
Preceded by	Abdirahman Aw Ali Farah
Succeeded by	Ahmed Yusuf Yasin

Born	1952 Quljeed, Awdal, British Empire
Political party	UDUB
Spouse	Huda Barkhad
Profession	Politician
Religion	Sunni Islam

For other uses, see Dahir.

Dahir Rayaleh Kahin (Somali: Daahir Riyaale Kaahin) (born 1952, Quljeed, British Somaliland) is the President of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland. He became the third president of Somaliland on May 5, 2002, after the death of Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal. He won elections on April 14, 2003, representing the Ururka Dimuqraadiga Umada Bahawday (UDUB), or United Democratic People's Party, and was sworn into office on May 16, 2003.

1 Background
2 Service in the Barré government
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Background

He was born at Quljeed, Awdal and was trained in Russia. He comes from the Dudub (Jibril Yonis) Sub-Clan of the Gadabursi Clan . His previous posts include a diplomat at the Somali Embassy in Djibouti; he was also in intelligence; governor of Awdal; a businessman; and vice president of Somaliland (1997 - 2002).

[edit] Service in the Barré government

In the last years of the Barré government, Kahin held the rank of Colonel in the National Security Service,^[1] and served as the NSS station chief in Berbera. During this time the NSS has been identified by many sources (U.S. Department of State, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Africa watch) as having been involved in torture and extrajudicial killings of civilians on a massive scale, particularly during the war in Northern Somalia from May 1988 through the end of 1989. Colonel Kahin was charged with suppression of the SNM guerilla movement,^[2] and was specifically named in a work published by the human rights organization Africa Watch (now a part of Human Rights Watch) as a prime suspect in extra-judicial killings that took place in Hargeisa (the current capital of Somaliland) during this time.^[3] The work was based on research and interviews with newly arrived refugees in Djibouti, England and Wales in the later half of 1989.

Meeting new President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete.

However, there are also some eye witnesses who clearly told that If Rayale was not there, they would not have survived.^{[citation needed]} Others asserted that he saved the lives of so many civilians from the regime he belonged to.^{[citation needed]}