Mohamed Ali Samatar (Maxamed Cali Samatar)

Who was he?

Mohamed Ali Samatar was one of the most senior officers and officials of the military government of 1969–1991. He was born in Kismayo on 1 January 1931 and trained at the Modena military academy in Italy and the Frunze academy in the Soviet Union (Wikipedia, Mohammad Ali Samatar). This page records his public career and the legal case against him, from the sources, without taking sides.

Army commander and minister

• Commander of the Somali National Army, 25 November 1969 to 1 February 1987, the third holder of the post.
• Minister of Defence, 1970 to 1987.
• First vice-president, 14 August 1971 to December 1990.
• Prime minister, 1 February 1987 to 3 September 1990.

(Wikipedia)

He led the army during the Ogaden war of 1977–78 (same source). The Library of Congress names him as one of four senior officials who, with Siad Barre, made up the ruling party's politburo in 1986 (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study). After Siad Barre was badly hurt in a car accident on 23 May 1986, Samatar acted as head of state for several months (Wikipedia). The army of this period is described in The Somali armed forces, 1960–1991.

Exile and the US case

After the government fell in 1991, Samatar moved to the United States and lived in Virginia. In 2004 seven Somali-born plaintiffs sued him in a US federal court. The Associated Press reported that they accused him of ordering the killing and torture of members of a minority clan in the 1980s; the plaintiffs said they had been targeted as Isaaq (CBS News/AP, 28 August 2012; Wikipedia).

• 1 June 2010. In Samantar v. Yousuf, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not shield him, so the case could go on (Wikipedia, citing the Washington Post).
• August 2012. On the day the trial was to begin, he accepted a default judgment. A court in Alexandria, Virginia, awarded the plaintiffs US$21 million. He said he could no longer afford the case, that his health was failing, and that he had "never approved any killings". He called the case politically motivated (CBS News/AP).
• March 2013. Somalia's prime minister Abdi Farah Shirdon asked the US to grant him immunity (Wikipedia). See Abdi Farah Shirdon.
• March 2015. The US Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal (same source).

"I worked 40 years for my country," he said after the 2012 judgment. "I was faithful to my country and abided by the law" (CBS News/AP).

How sources describe his role in the north

Wikipedia records that he is alleged to have overseen the campaign in the north in the late 1980s, which many Somalis and several scholars call the Isaaq genocide, and that the plaintiffs did not claim he personally carried out abuses. His supporters described the lawsuit as a political vendetta (Wikipedia). For the war in the north, see Somali National Movement.

Death

He died in Virginia on 19 August 2016, aged 85, and was buried in Mogadishu (Wikipedia, citing Mareeg).

Read the primary sources yourself

• US Supreme Court, Samantar v. Yousuf, 560 U.S. 305 (2010): opinion.
• Center for Justice and Accountability, case page on Yousuf v. Samantar: cja.org.