Hirsi Magan Isse
Encyclopedia
Hirsi Magan Isse (1935 — 2008) was a scholar and one of the leading figures of the Somali revolution. A part of Somalia
's political elite, he was a leader in the Somali Salvation Democratic Front
(SSDF), one of the earliest and most influential factions in the Somali Civil War
that broke out in 1991. Magan Isse was a comrade-in-arms of erstwhile President of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
, and the father of the former Dutch MP and critic of Islam
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
.
and student of Somali culture, he belonged to the Cismaan Maxamuud
subdivision of the Majeerteen
sub-clan of the Harti
Darod
clan family.
Magan Isse had been married four times and had five daughters and one son. He had two daughters with his first wife. From his second marriage were born his son Mahad, his estranged daughter Ayaan
, and his daughter Haweya. Haweya died in 1998. He also had a daughter from his third marriage. He later remarried his first wife, who he had divorced shortly after he married his second wife.
Magan Isse studied in Italy
and in the United States
at Columbia University
, New York
, where he obtained a degree in anthropology
. As a trained linguist
and anthropologist, he is known as a champion of Osmanya, the Somali writing script
invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid
, unlike the former head of state, Siad Barre
, who made Shire Jama Ahmed
's modified Latin script
the national standard in Somalia in 1972.
and the coming to power of Siad Barre
in October, 1969, Magan Isse was considered dangerous to the new leadership and was imprisoned from 1972 to October 1975.
In 1976, Magan Isse escaped from prison and fled from Somalia to Saudi Arabia
. In the same year, Barre banned all political parties with the exception of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
(SRSF). So the SODAF (a forerunner of the SSDF) was founded in exile in Rome
. The following year, Magan Isse moved to Ethiopia
, where he witnessed the year-long Ogaden War
. It was also the period of the Red Terror
of the Derg
, and its victims included the Western Somali Liberation Front
, an Ogaden-based Somali rebel outfit. For security purposes, Magan Isse opted to relocate his family to a suburb in Nairobi
, while he continued to live in Somalia and Ethiopia most of the time.
In the summer of 1982, the SSDF played a key role in the second armed conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia. The SSDF, supported by the Derg leader Mengistu
's air force, waged a low intensity guerrilla war against the Somali army
. Magan Isse became a well-known figure in Somalia at the time as director and presenter of Radio Kulmis (meaning "Unity" in Somali
), which aired anti-Barré programs from Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
).
In 1988, Magan Isse and Mohamed Haji Aden headed an insurrection near Eyl
in the Nugaal
region, part of Puntland
, mainly inhabited by Majerteen of the Issa Mahamoud sub-clans. This insurrection of the SSDF, which started in the southern part of Nugaal and Bari and the western part of Mudug
, would eventually lead to the autonomy of the province of Puntland in 1998. In the 1990s the SSDF switched sides: from the SNM
of Somaliland
to its former adversary, Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan
, former minister of defense of the government of Siad Barré, and, after the fall of Barré, head of the Somali National Front
(SNF). With the SNF the SSDF tried, in vain, to capture the region around Kismayo.
, United Kingdom
. He died in 2008 at 73 years of age.
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
's political elite, he was a leader in the Somali Salvation Democratic Front
Somali Salvation Democratic Front
Somali Salvation Democratic Front , initially known as the Democratic Front for Salvation of Somalia was a political and paramilitary umbrella organization in Somalia. Founded in 1978 by several army officers, it was the first of several opposition groups dedicated to ousting the authoritarian...
(SSDF), one of the earliest and most influential factions in the Somali Civil War
Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...
that broke out in 1991. Magan Isse was a comrade-in-arms of erstwhile President of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is a veteran Somali politician. He is one of the founders of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, as well as the Puntland State of Somalia, where he served as the autonomous region's first President...
, and the father of the former Dutch MP and critic of Islam
Criticism of Islam
Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written criticism came from Christians, prior to the ninth century, many of whom viewed Islam as a radical Christian heresy...
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
.
Personal life
Magan Isse was born in Somalia in 1935 as one of the nine children of Magan Isse Guleid (1845–1945). A devout MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and student of Somali culture, he belonged to the Cismaan Maxamuud
Cisman Mahmoud
Osman Mahamud , also known as Cisman Mahmoud or Ismaan Mahamuud, is a Somali sub-clan. It forms a part of the Majeerteen subdivision of the Harti confederation of Darod clans.-Overview:...
subdivision of the Majeerteen
Majeerteen
The Majeerteen is a Somali clan. Its members form a part of the Harti confederation of Darod sub-clans, and primarily inhabit the Puntland region in northeastern Somalia....
sub-clan of the Harti
Harti
Harti , meaning "strong man", is a name used to denote a confederation of various Darod sub-clans of the Somali people.-Clan tree:There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted...
Darod
Darod
The Darod is a Somali clan. The father of this clan is named Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, but is more commonly known as Darod. In the Somali language, the word Daarood means "an enclosed compound," a conflation of the two words daar and ood .The Darod population in Somalia lives principally...
clan family.
Magan Isse had been married four times and had five daughters and one son. He had two daughters with his first wife. From his second marriage were born his son Mahad, his estranged daughter Ayaan
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
, and his daughter Haweya. Haweya died in 1998. He also had a daughter from his third marriage. He later remarried his first wife, who he had divorced shortly after he married his second wife.
Magan Isse studied in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he obtained a degree in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. As a trained linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and anthropologist, he is known as a champion of Osmanya, the Somali writing script
Writing system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid
Osman Yusuf Kenadid
-Biography:In the early 1920s, in response to a national campaign to settle on a standard orthography for the Somali language , Kenadid, a leader in the Majeerteen Sultanate of Hobyo in Somalia and nephew of Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid, devised a phonetically sophisticated alphabet called Osmanya for...
, unlike the former head of state, Siad Barre
Siad Barre
Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....
, who made Shire Jama Ahmed
Shire Jama Ahmed
Shire Jama Ahmed was a Somali linguist who is credited with having devised a unique Latin script for transcribing the Somali language. Shire Jama's winning Somali Orthoraphy was chosen from eighteen competing new orthographies in 1972 by the Language Committee and the ruling party...
's modified Latin script
Somali alphabet
The Somali Latin alphabet has been the official writing script in Somalia since 1972. It was developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for transcribing the Somali language, and is based on the Latin script. The Somali Latin alphabet uses all letters of the English Latin...
the national standard in Somalia in 1972.
Political and military career
After the assassination of president Abdirashid Ali ShermarkeAbdirashid Ali Shermarke
Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was Prime Minister of Somalia from July 12, 1960 to June 14, 1964, and President of Somalia from June 10, 1967 until his assassination on October 15, 1969...
and the coming to power of Siad Barre
Siad Barre
Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....
in October, 1969, Magan Isse was considered dangerous to the new leadership and was imprisoned from 1972 to October 1975.
In 1976, Magan Isse escaped from prison and fled from Somalia to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. In the same year, Barre banned all political parties with the exception of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party was the governing political party in Somalia from 1976 to 1991.- History :XHKS was created by the military regime of Siad Barre under Soviet guidance. A founding congress was held in June 1976. The congress elected a Central Committee, with Barre as the...
(SRSF). So the SODAF (a forerunner of the SSDF) was founded in exile in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The following year, Magan Isse moved to Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, where he witnessed the year-long Ogaden War
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War was a conventional conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977 and 1978 over the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. In a notable illustration of the nature of Cold War alliances, the Soviet Union switched from supplying aid to Somalia to supporting Ethiopia, which had previously been...
. It was also the period of the Red Terror
Red Terror (Ethiopia)
The Ethiopian Red Terror, or Qey Shibir , was a violent political campaign in Ethiopia that most visibly took place once Communist Mengistu Haile Mariam achieved control of the Derg, the military junta, 3 February 1977...
of the Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
, and its victims included the Western Somali Liberation Front
Western Somali Liberation Front
The Western Somali Liberation Front was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting the invading Somali Army...
, an Ogaden-based Somali rebel outfit. For security purposes, Magan Isse opted to relocate his family to a suburb in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, while he continued to live in Somalia and Ethiopia most of the time.
In the summer of 1982, the SSDF played a key role in the second armed conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia. The SSDF, supported by the Derg leader Mengistu
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
's air force, waged a low intensity guerrilla war against the Somali army
Military of Somalia
The Military of Somalia was, up until 1991, made up of the army, navy, air force, and air defense command. The outbreak of the Somali Civil War during that year led to the de facto dissolution of the national armed forces. However, efforts to re-establish a regular armed force by a re-constituted...
. Magan Isse became a well-known figure in Somalia at the time as director and presenter of Radio Kulmis (meaning "Unity" in Somali
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
), which aired anti-Barré programs from Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
).
In 1988, Magan Isse and Mohamed Haji Aden headed an insurrection near Eyl
Eyl
Eyl is an ancient town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. It is situated near the Hafun peninsula.-History:Eyl is the site of many historical artifacts from Somalia's pre-colonial period...
in the Nugaal
Nugaal
Nugal is an administrative region in northeastern Somalia.-Overview:It is bordered by Ethiopia and the Somalian regions of Sool to the west, Bari to the north, and Mudug to the south, with the Indian Ocean to the east....
region, part of Puntland
Puntland
Puntland , officially the Puntland State of Somalia , is a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998....
, mainly inhabited by Majerteen of the Issa Mahamoud sub-clans. This insurrection of the SSDF, which started in the southern part of Nugaal and Bari and the western part of Mudug
Mudug
Mudug is an administrative region in north-central Somalia. Bordered by the Ogaden, the Somalian regions of Nugaal and Galguduud, and the Indian Ocean, its capital is the city of Galkacyo.-Districts:...
, would eventually lead to the autonomy of the province of Puntland in 1998. In the 1990s the SSDF switched sides: from the SNM
Somali National Movement
The Somali National Movement was a 1980s-1990s Somali rebel group. Founded and led by Isaaq members to protect the clan's interests, it was key in the formation of Somaliland, a self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia.-Formation:In April...
of Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
to its former adversary, Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan
Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan
Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan was the son-in-law of Siad Barre and minister of defense of Somalia. Said Hersi Morgan is thought to be responsible for many atrocities committed against the Somali population during the Barre government and during the civil war of the 1990s in the region of Kismayu...
, former minister of defense of the government of Siad Barré, and, after the fall of Barré, head of the Somali National Front
Somali National Front
The Somali National Front was a political revolutionary movement and armed militia in Somalia.-History:Initially made up of loyalists to former President of Somalia Siad Barre and the remnants of the Somali National Army forces after his ouster from office, the SNF's intent and goal was to...
(SNF). With the SNF the SSDF tried, in vain, to capture the region around Kismayo.
Later years
Magan Isse spent the better part of his later years in political exile in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He died in 2008 at 73 years of age.
See also
- History of Somalia, 6.3 Persecution of the Majeerteen
- Somali Youth LeagueSomali Youth LeagueThe Somali Youth League was the first political party in Somalia. It played a key role in the nation's road to independence during the 1950s and 1960s.-History:...
- Hobyo, colonial era
- Northern Somali sultanates