Mogadishu (PP Obituary) — Brigadier Ahmed Suleiman Abdalla (aka Dafle), who handed away earlier this week, was the founding commander of the Nationwide Safety Service (now the Nationwide Intelligence and Safety Company ‘NISA’). Abdalla was born in Togdheer in 1937. He attended Sheikh Secondary College. His contemporaries described him as a fast learner and extremely conscientious — two qualities that served him effectively upon becoming a member of the Somali Military and through his coaching in the UK.
Through the first 9 years of the Sixties, when Somalia was experimenting with parliamentary democracy, Abdalla served as an officer within the Somali Nationwide Military, at one level being tasked with overseeing navy intelligence. Earlier than 1969, he married the daughter of Somali Military Commander Mohamed Siyad Barre, who would later overthrow the final democratically elected Somali authorities in 1969. Abdalla’s identify appeared on the checklist of junta members that got here to be referred to as the Supreme Revolutionary Council, which seized energy on 21 October 1969 in a cold coup.
The yr 1970 marked a major milestone for the navy regime. It took management of all intelligence stories beforehand compiled by the previous Particular Department, first led by Main Normal Jama Mohamed Ghalib and later by Colonel Farah Sugulle. Though the Particular Department was primarily tasked with amassing intelligence on overseas threats to the Somali Republic, a considerable variety of its stories handled “doable” hyperlinks between some Somali politicians and overseas governments. The seizure of the Particular Department information offered Main Normal Barre, Chairman of the SRC, with a chance to attach the dots between the navy intelligence stories he had beforehand learn and the Particular Department information he had not had entry to.
Abdalla was appointed to go the Nationwide Safety Service based on a presidential decree issued in 1970. He secured the appointment based mostly on a confidential suggestion he had written to the SRC Chairman, proposing the centralisation of the state’s intelligence equipment. “The compartmentalisation denied political leaders the privilege of realizing extra about navy intelligence, and left military commanders in the dead of night about exterior threats to Somalia,” Abdalla argued, in search of to focus on the dangers posed by having separate intelligence providers inside the regime.
Abdalla had learn translated summaries of Particular Department stories that hinted at measures meant to curtail Soviet affect inside the Somali Nationwide Military. He was not an Italian-speaking officer. These stories dated again to 1967, when Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was elected president. Sharmake appointed Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal as Prime Minister. The Particular Department stories alluded to conferences between Egal and senior members of his authorities with British and American diplomats, who tied assist for the Somali Nationwide Military to verifiable reductions in Soviet affect. Sharmarke reportedly balked at recommendations made by Egal to downgrade ties with the Soviet Union, which had performed a key function in strengthening Somali navy intelligence capabilities.
The abolition of political events, as proclaimed within the first Constitution of the Somali Revolution, was knowledgeable by the failure of the final Somali civilian regime, which monopolised energy to such an extent that it rendered all political opposition irrelevant. The introduction of a single-list candidate system (una lista unica), which allowed the ruling Somali Youth League to dam rival candidates from different events from contesting seats in constituencies, foreshadowed the one-party rule in Somalia beneath the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Social gathering (1976–1991). Misconceived democracy paved the best way for navy dictatorship.
Abdalla is remembered for reworking the NSS into knowledgeable intelligence service, whose operations benefited from synthesising intelligence stories from each the pre- and post-coup eras, significantly between 1966 and 1975. The Nationwide Safety Courtroom, headed by the late Mohamud Gelleh Yusuf, used NSS intelligence stories as proof towards so-called “counter-revolutionaries.” Abdalla was recognized to be anti-communist however didn’t rock the boat; he understood that President Barre was not a dedicated communist however used scientific socialism to retain energy.
Different intelligence coverage improvements launched by Abdalla included issuing Somali passports to members of the Eritrean Liberation Entrance and granting refugee standing to Ethiopians fleeing the Purple Terror beneath Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. Within the Decrease Shabelle area, the NSS ran a centre the place officers held month-to-month conferences with Ethiopian political refugees, a few of whom turned academics in non-public faculties in Mogadishu. Unemployed Ethiopian political refugees obtained allowances and medical care from the Somali state.
The previous President of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the President of Puntland State, Mentioned Abdullahi Deni, the Chairman of the Somaliland administration Parliament Yasin Haji Mohamud Hiir, the present Director of NISA, Abdullahi Sanbalolshe; and the previous NISA Director, Fahad Yasin, all despatched their condolences to the household of Brigadier Normal Ahmed Suleman Abdalla.
© Puntland Put up, 2025
