| Aden Aw Hirsi ادن او حرسي |
|
|---|---|
| Governor of Gedo | |
| In office 2006–2008 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1968 Gedo, Somalia |
Aden Aw Hirsi (Somali: Aden Aw Hirsi, Arabic: ادن او حرسي) (born 1968) is a Somali politician and author who specializes in political science.
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The great grandson of Sheikh Aw Hirsi, a well-known Qadiri sufi leader, Aden Ibrahim Aw Hirsi, nicknamed 'Irro was born in 1968 in the southern Gedo region of Somalia.
He attended primary and secondary schools in Sarinley and Bardera. He spent a good part of his growing years in the Bardera District, where many of his family members and relatives have lived for generations.
From 2000 until 2004, Aden studied political science at Ohio Dominican University. Prior to attending college in the United States, he had trained in Islamic studies, where he concentrated on Sufism.
Aden started attending private language schools in Bardera. He focused in Arabic and English. A few years later, he began his translation and interpreting career while still a teenager in high school. He continued performing interpreting and relief jobs through much of the 1990s. In this capacity, he had worked for CARE International and UNHCR, and later co-founded SADO, a local non-profit organization.[1]
Between 2003 and 2006, Hirsi taught English and Somali at Columbus State Community College[2] in Columbus city of State of Ohio of The United States.
In November 2006, he was chosen to become the governor of the Gedo region in Somalia. While in office,Governor Hirsi, a former relief worker himself, persuaded numerous international relief organizations to open offices in the region.[4] As a result, a number of disasters were averted.[3] In the same year, Al-Shabaab, a local Islamist group unhappy with the presence of many foreign relief organizations in the region, declared its strong opposition to Hirsi's popular[4] administration. The group consequently orchestrated a peaceful way to frustrate and ultimately oust the governor by bankrolling Hirsi's challenger, Hussein Ismail, the latter of whom then gathered a clan militia and threatened to start a civil war in the region.
In May 2008, faced with the dilemma of choosing between bloodshed and resignation from his gubernatorial post, Hirsi resigned from office, and let Ismail assume governorship.
As a writer, Aw Hirsi has authored numerous books and glossaries including: