Muhammad Ali Samatar

Muhammad Ali Samatar (Somali: Maxamed Cali Samatar, Arabic: محمد علي سمتر‎) (born 1931) is a Somali politician and Lieutenant General. A senior member of the Supreme Revolutionary Council, he also served as the Prime Minister of Somalia from 1 February 1987 to 3 September 1990.^[1]

Early years

Samatar was born in 1931 in Somalia. He belongs to the Tumal clan.^[2]

For his post-secondary education, Samatar studied at the Frunze Military Academy in the former Soviet Union (Военная академия им. М. В. Фрунзе), an elite institution reserved for the most qualified officers of the Warsaw Pact armies and their allies.^[3]

Somali Democratic Republic

A Lieutenant General in the Somali National Army (SNA), Samatar was a key figure in Somali politics throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During the Ogaden campaign of the late 1970s, he led all SNA units and their Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) affiliates.^[3] He also served as national Defense Minister from 1980 to 1986.

Samatar was a member of President Siad Barre's ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC). In May 1986, Barre suffered serious injuries in a life-threatening automobile accident near Mogadishu, when the car that was transporting him smashed into the back of a bus during a heavy rainstorm.^[4] He was treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries, broken ribs and shock over a period of a month.^[5][6] Samatar, who was then serving as Vice President, subsequently served as de facto head of state for the next several months. Although Barre managed to recover enough to present himself as the sole presidential candidate for re-election over a term of seven years on December 23, 1986, his poor health and advanced age led to speculation about who would succeed him in power. Possible contenders included his son-in-law General Ahmed Suleiman Abdille, who was at the time the Minister of the Interior, in addition to Barre's Vice President Lt. Gen. Samatar.^[4][5]

From February 1, 1987, to September 3, 1990, Samatar was the national Prime Minister, the first person to fill that post since Barre abolished the position upon seizing power in 1969.

Ogaden War

In the late 1970s, Samatar was the Chief Commanding Officer of the Somali National Army during the Ogaden Campaign.^[3] He and his frontline deputies faced off against their mentor and former Frunze alumni Marshal Vasily Ivanovich Petrov, who was assigned by the USSR to advise the Ethiopian Army, in addition to 15,000 Cuban troops supporting Ethiopia,^[7] led by General Arnaldo Ochoa.^[8] The Ogaden Campaign was part of a broader effort to unite all of the Somali-inhabited territories in the Horn region into a Greater Somalia (Soomaaliweyn).^[9] General Samatar was assisted in the offensive by several field commanders, most of whom were also Frunze graduates:^[10]

• Col. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed commanded SNA in Negellie Front, seizing control in late Sept 1977.
• Col. Abdullahi Ahmed Irro commanded SNA in the Godey Front, seizing the area on July 24, 1977.
• Col. Ali Hussein commanded SNA in Qabri Dahare Front, July 26, 1977.
• Col. Farah Handulle commanded SNA in the Warder Front, seizing control in late July 25 1977.
• General Yussuf Salhan commanded SNA in Jigjiga Front assisted by Col. A. Naji, capturing the area on August 30, 1977.
• General Mohamed Nur Galaal assisted by Col. Mohamud Sh. Abdullahi Geelqaad commanded Dirir-Dewa (SNA retreated from Dirir-Dewa).
• Col. Ali Isamil and Col. Abdulrahman Aare' co-commanded SNA in Dhedeh-Bur seizing control in August 1977.

2012 lawsuit

Following the outbreak of the civil war in 1991 and the collapse of the Barre regime, Samatar moved to the United States in order to escape persecution as a member of the former government. According to Mario Sica, then Italian ambassador to Mogadishu, although the United Somali Congress (USC) professed that it was fighting against the Barre regime as a whole and not engaged in a clan-based struggle, public officials who belonged to the same clan as the USC's core constituents were not targeted. Instead, they were embraced as heroes and welcomed into the rebel group's senior leadership positions.^[11]

In 2009, a civil lawsuit seeking financial damages from Samatar was filed in the U.S. by a small group of Somalis, some of whom are naturalized American citizens. The individuals alleged that they had suffered physical abuse in violation of international law at the hands of soldiers or other government officials under Samatar's command,^[12] which they further claimed was due to their belonging to the Isaaq clan.^[13] However, the plaintiffs did not claim that Samatar personally committed the atrocities or that he was directly involved.^[12] Supporters of Samatar described the lawsuit as a politically motivated vendetta filed by associates of the Somali National Movement (SNM), a disbanded rebel militia linked with the secessionist Somaliland region in the northwestern part of Somalia.^[14]

Samatar asserted that he was immune from responsibility under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. On June 1, 2010, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that, although Samatar's argument was "literally possible", the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in question did not cover the issue of an official's claim to immunity. The lawsuit was consequently allowed to continue against Samatar. However, the justices added that Samatar might have recourse to other claims of immunity when the matter was to be brought again before a lower court.^[15] In August 2012, a U.S. federal court ruled that Samatar should pay $21 million to the plaintiffs, with each to receive $1 million and $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages, respectively. However, Samatar was not required to pay the damages until bankruptcy proceedings concluded.^[16]

In March 2013, Abdi Farah Shirdon, Prime Minister in Somalia's newly recognized Federal Government, issued a letter to the U.S. Department of State requesting that Washington grant Samatar immunity from prosecution. Samatar was previously denied immunity mainly because there was at the time no strong central authority within Somalia to claim it on his behalf. According to Samatar's attorney, Joseph Peter Drenan, the gesture was an attempt on the Somali government's part to promote reconciliation. He added that the lawsuit is now likely to be dismissed, as the U.S. authorities are expected to honor the Somali administration's request.^[17]

See also

• Abdullahi Ahmed Irro
• Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
• Hussein Kulmiye Afrah
• Mohamed Farah Aidid
• Salaad Gabeyre Kediye

Notes

References

• Ahmed III, Abdul. "Brothers in Arms Part I". WardheerNews. Retrieved 28 February 2012. 
• Enow, Saadiq. "Dagaalkii Ogaadeenya - Casgarkii XXX-aad". Retrieved 3 January 2013.  (in Somali)
• Gebru, Tareke. "From Lash to Red Star". Retrieved 8 November 2012. 
• Kapteijns, Lidwien (2012). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 133. ISBN 0812244672. 
• Lewis, I.M.; The Royal African Society (October 1989). "The Ogaden and the Fragility of Somali Segmentary Nationalism". African Affairs 88 (353). Retrieved 8 November 2012.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
• Urban, Mark. Soviet intervention and the Ogaden counter-offensive of 1978. doi:10.1080/03071848308523524. Retrieved 8 November 2012. 

v t e Prime Ministers of Somalia First Republic (1960–1969) Haji Ibrahim Egal Ali Shermarke Haji Hussein Haji Ibrahim Egal Second Republic (1969–1991) Farah Salad† post abolished, 1970-87 Ali Samatar Hawadle Madar Somali Civil War (1991–2000) Arteh Ghalib vacant, 1997-2000 Transitional National Government (2000–2004) Ali Khalif Galaydh Jama Ali Abshir Farah Abdi Yusuf Transitional Federal Government (2004–2012) Ali Ghedi Salim Aliyow Ibrow Nur Hussein Ali Sharmarke Elmi Gonjeh (Acting) Abdullahi Mohamed Third Republic (2012–present) Mohamed Ali Farah Shirdon Sheikh Ahmed Italics indicate acting officeholders.