Mohammed Omar Osman

Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman (born 1940) is the chairman of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). He was born in Ethiopia, but attended secondary school in Mogadishu. He later went to Egypt where he graduated from the War College, and completed his military education in the Soviet Union.[1]

After returning to Somalia, he was appointed a member of the central committee of the ruling Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party in the mid-1970s, then became chief of the party's Politbureau. Afterwards, he was appointed commander of the Somali Navy and promoted to the rank of admiral. After the collapse of the central government in Somalia in 1991, he returned to the Somali Region in Ethiopia, where in 1998 he was chosen to be the leader of the ONLF at the Party Congress.[1]

In the later years, Admiral Osman and his supporters had been in a power struggle against a group led by the ONLF head of Planning and Research Department, Dr. Mohamed Sirad Dalool, who was assassinated March 2009.[2] This has reportedly led to a split in the ONLF, with one faction loyal to Admiral Osman, while another, led by Abdiwali Hussein Gas, holds Admiral Osman responsible for Dr. Dalool's death, which he has not commit, in fact, it is to be said that Dr. Dalool and Admiral Osman were very close friends and that he relied heavily on Dr. Dalool for advice and that he was a key member who was important of the party.[3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Biography appended to his interview with Bartamaha, 12 October 2009 (accessed 17 November 2009)
  2. ↑ Tobias Hagman, "The Political Roots of the Current Crisis in Region 5", p. 2, published 21 September 2007, Crisis in the Horn of Africa website
  3. ↑ "Ethiopia: Ogaden's ONLF breaks into two factions", Jimma Times, 3 March 2009 (accessed 17 November 2009)


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