Mohamed Said Hersi 'Morgan' (Maxamed Siciid Xirsi Moorgan)

Who was he?

Mohamed Said Hersi, known as "Morgan", was born on 1 January 1949 in Qardho district, in present-day Bari. He trained in the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1970 and married a daughter of Siad Barre (Wikipedia, Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan). Goobjoog News reported that he also trained in the US and Italy and became commander of the Red Berets, the presidential guard, in 1982 (Goobjoog News, 29 May 2025). This page records his public role from the sources, without taking sides.

Commander in the north, 1986–1988

From 1986 to 1988 he commanded the army's 26th Sector in the north-west, where the army was fighting the Somali National Movement (Wikipedia). Wikipedia records a confidential report to the president from this period, known as the "Letter of Death", which proposed harsh measures against the Isaaq; it cites the scholarly works that describe it (same source).

When the SNM attacked Hargeisa and Burao in May 1988, the army retook the cities with heavy bombing. Goobjoog wrote that he "oversaw bombing and mass civilian killings in Hargeisa" and that this earned him the name "Butcher of Hargeisa" in Somaliland (Goobjoog News).

Last defence minister, 1990–1991

From 9 September 1990 to 26 January 1991 he was minister of defence and chief of the defence forces, the last to hold the post before the central government fell (Wikipedia). The army of this period is described in The Somali armed forces, 1960–1991.

Kismayo and the Juba valley, 1991–2005

After January 1991 he moved south. Reports at the time described him as a commander of the Harti wing of the Somali Patriotic Movement and as allied with the Somali National Front (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 1995). He signed the UN-sponsored Addis Ababa agreements of January and March 1993 (Wikipedia).

• December 1993. His forces took Kismayo as Belgian UN troops prepared to leave.
• 18 June 1994. He signed a peace agreement for the Juba valley, which his rival Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess did not sign (IRB Canada).
• 1999. The Juba Valley Alliance took Kismayo from his forces.
• 2001–2004. Further attempts to retake Kismayo, at times with Ethiopian backing according to a UN Security Council letter of 2003.

(Wikipedia, unless stated)

Later life

He took part in the Kenya peace talks of 2002–2004 that led to the Transitional Federal Government. In 2016 he sought a parliamentary seat but withdrew under international pressure, and in later years he was a security adviser to Puntland's president, Said Abdullahi Deni (Goobjoog News; Wikipedia).

He died in a hospital in Nairobi on 28 May 2025, aged 76. Puntland held a state funeral in Garowe. Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said he had "played a vital role in defending the country" (Wikipedia; allAfrica, 29 May 2025).

Sources differ

• Training. Soviet Union (Wikipedia) or the US and Italy (Goobjoog).
• His 1990s faction. Described in different reports as SPM, SNF-aligned or independent.
• His legacy. Puntland and the federal prime minister honoured him at his death; in Somaliland he is remembered for 1988.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, "Information on the Somali National Front (SNF) since 1994" (1995): ecoi.net.
• Human Rights Watch, World Report 1990, Somalia: text.