Military and armed-group figures
Asli Hassan Abade (Asli Xasan Cabaade)
Asli Hassan Abade (born 1958) is a Somali pilot widely described as Africa's first female military pilot. She made her first solo military flight in Somalia on 9 September 1976 and flew with the Somali Air Force until the state collapsed in 1991. She later lived in the United States, kept flying and teaching, campaigned for peace in the 2000s, and moved back to Somalia in July 2017.
Asli Hassan AbadeAsli Hassan Abade · Asli Xasan Cabaade
- Lived
- 1958 to today
- Known as one of
- Military and armed-group figures
- Places
- Muqdisho and Banaadir
- Era
- The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012; Who holds power, 2012 to now
- Sources
- 3 sources
Who is she?
Asli Hassan Abade is a pilot from the first generation of the Somali Air Force. She is widely described as the first woman in Africa to fly as a military pilot. This page records her public life from the sources.
Early life
She was born in 1958, one of nine children, and grew up on an air force base in Mogadishu where her house was "very close to the runway", watching fighter jets take off (Africa Defense Forum, 28 April 2022; Binta Kanteh, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 13 November 2025). Wikipedia gives her birthplace as Buloburde; some sources say Jijiga (Wikipedia, Asli Hassan Abade). In a 2017 interview with the UN mission in Somalia she recalled that in her youth "women could do whatever they wanted" (Africa Defense Forum, citing UNSOM).
Joining the air force
The Spokesman-Recorder reports that in 1974 she spoke to President Siad Barre herself about joining the air force, and that she trained in Somalia, Italy and the United States. She made her first solo military flight in Somalia on 9 September 1976 (Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 2025). The Africa Defense Forum says she began on a Cessna 150 in 1976 and later trained on military cargo planes and an Airbus A320 (ADF, 2022). Wikipedia records her rank as captain.
The civil war and the United States
Her flying career in Somalia ended with the civil war in 1991, and she moved to the United States, where she raised four children (ADF, 2022). She kept her US Federal Aviation Administration licence, went on flying and taught new pilots; the Spokesman-Recorder reported in November 2025 that she had made her last flight about six months earlier and retired (Spokesman-Recorder, 2025).
Campaigning for peace
In the 2000s she appeared at political meetings wearing the colours of the Somali flag to urge leaders to end the conflict, and was credited with helping the reconciliation process that began at Arta, Djibouti. This earned her the nickname Calanside, "the flag-bearer" (Wikipedia, citing BBC News, "Flying the flag for Somali peace", 2004). In 2011, during the famine, she flew to Mogadishu with medical supplies for a children's hospital, but left after one day because of al-Shabaab's presence in the city (ADF, 2022).
Return to Somalia, 2017
In July 2017 she moved back to Somalia (ADF, 2022). She told the UN mission: "I am proud of my history, not just for Somalia, but also for Africa" (same source, citing UNSOM). On 31 October 2025 the Somali Museum of Minnesota gave her its "Living Legend" award (Spokesman-Recorder, 2025).
Sources differ
- "Only" woman pilot. Several sources call her the only female pilot in the Somali Air Force. The Spokesman-Recorder corrected its article to say she was the first, but not the only, woman to serve in it.
- Years of service. Wikipedia gives 1976 to the end of 1992; the Africa Defense Forum says about ten years, ended by the war in 1991.
- Birthplace. Buloburde (Wikipedia) or Jijiga (some other sources).
Read the primary sources yourself
Sources
- Africa Defense Forum, 28 April 2022 · adf-magazine.com
- Binta Kanteh, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 13 November 2025 · spokesman-recorder.com
- Wikipedia, Asli Hassan Abade · en.wikipedia.org
Asli Hassan AbadeAsli Hassan Abade · Asli Xasan Cabaade
- Lived
- 1958 to today
- Known as one of
- Military and armed-group figures
- Places
- Muqdisho and Banaadir
- Era
- The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012; Who holds power, 2012 to now
- Sources
- 3 sources
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