Mohamud Muse Hersi "Adde Muse" (Maxamuud Muuse Xirsi "Cadde")

Who was he?

Mohamud Muse Hersi was one of the first officers of the Somali army after independence, and later the third president of Puntland. This page records his public career from the sources.

Early life and training

He was born on 1 July 1937 in Bender Bayla, on the Indian Ocean coast, and went to school in Mogadishu, where he worked at a bank before joining the army as a trainee officer in 1959. He graduated from the Modena military academy in Italy in 1963, returned to Italy's higher military school from 1967, and studied at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow in 1973–74 (Puntland Post, "Taariikh nololeedkii Jen. Cadde Muuse Xirsi Boqor", 14 February 2017). Wikipedia records that he belonged to the Osman Mahamuud branch of the Majeerteen and descended from the line of its kings (Wikipedia, Mohamud Muse Hersi).

In the army, 1959–1979

• 1963: secretary to the army commander, General Daud Abdulle Hirsi (Puntland Post).
• 1964: took part in the border war with Ethiopia (Puntland Post).
• About 1970–1972: commander of the 21st Division in Beledweyne, then head of army training in Mogadishu (Puntland Post; Wikipedia).
• 1974–1975: governor of Sanaag during the drought of 1974–75, when he set up government relief camps (Puntland Post).
• 1976: promoted to major general (Puntland Post).
• 1975–1979: military attaché at the Somali embassy in Beijing (Puntland Post; Wikipedia).

Canada and the SSDF

In 1979 he moved to Ottawa. The Puntland Post says he went as deputy head of the Somali embassy and in 1981 left to become military commander of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, the armed movement against Siad Barre. Wikipedia, citing CBC News (2008), records that he settled in Canada and ran several petrol stations there until the mid-1990s (Wikipedia). See Armed movements, 1978 to 1991.

Return to Somalia and the presidency, 2005–2009

He returned to Puntland politics in 2002, during the dispute over its constitution, and in 2003 reached a settlement with Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (Puntland Post). On 8 January 2005 he was elected president of Puntland for four years. He formed a cabinet of 16 ministers focused on security and reconciliation, and pursued oil exploration and the expansion of Bosaso's port and airport (Puntland Post). Wikipedia records that in April 2005 UNICEF welcomed his pledge that the state would pay primary school teachers, and that in October 2008 Puntland signed an agreement with Dubai's Lootah Group on an airport, seaport and free zone at Bosaso (Wikipedia).

The Islamic Courts, 2006. When the Islamic Courts Union took Bandiiradley in November 2006 and its spokesman spoke of moving on Galkayo, he said Puntland would resist any attack (Wikipedia, citing BBC News, 12 November 2006, and Al Jazeera, 21 November 2006).

Piracy. Hijackings off Puntland rose sharply in 2008. He opposed paying ransoms, saying giving in to the pirates' demands "was not an option" (Wikipedia, citing CBC News, 26 November 2008). See Piracy off Somalia.

He was succeeded in January 2009 by Abdirahman Farole.

Death

He died on 8 February 2017 in the United Arab Emirates, where he had been receiving treatment for several months. Farole and Puntland officials sent condolences (Garowe Online, 8 February 2017). He left a wife and six children (Puntland Post).

Sources differ

• Years in Canada. The Puntland Post describes a diplomatic post in Ottawa from 1979 and SSDF command from 1981; Wikipedia, citing CBC, describes him running petrol stations in Canada until the mid-1990s.
• Number of president. Garowe Online calls him Puntland's second president; Wikipedia lists him as the third, counting an acting president.
• Date in Beijing. The Puntland Post gives the start of his posting as 1975 in one place and 1976 in another.

Read the primary sources yourself

• Puntland Post, "Taariikh nololeedkii Jen. Cadde Muuse Xirsi Boqor" (in Somali, 2017): article.
• Garowe Online, "Former Puntland President dies in UAE" (2017): article.