SOMALIA - REPORTS RUMOR HASSAN DAHIR AWEYS DEAD OR

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 001122

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2019
TAGS: PINR PGOV SOCI PTER PHUM SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - REPORTS RUMOR HASSAN DAHIR AWEYS DEAD OR
WOUNDED

Classified By: Somalia Counselor Bob Patterson. Reasons: 1.4 b,d.


1. (C) Summary: Conflicting reports as of 2:00 P.M. (local)
June 7 had Islamist rebel leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys
either wounded or dead of wounds allegedly sustained in
fighting in the Galgaduud region town of Wabho on June 4.
Embassy contacts in the TFG, Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a, the
Somali media, and elsewhere have been unable to date to
definitely confirm the rumors. If true, Aweys's death would
mark a serious setback for those opposed to the
reconciliation efforts led by TFG President Sharif. In a
possibly related development, the Director of one of the
radio stations which broke the Aweys story --Radio Shabelle's
Muhtar Hirabe-- was apparently assassinated in Mogadishu's
Bakara Market on the morning of June 7, about thirty minutes
after talking by phone with Somalia Unit. End summary.


2. (C) Reuters and other wire services have been reporting
the death or serious injury June 7 of Islamist rebel leader
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys in fighting June 4 in the town of
Wabho, Galgaduud region. As of 2:00 P.M. (local),June 7,
the TFG Prime Minister, the TFG Speaker, Chief of
Intelligence, and Somalia's Ambassador to Nairobi (currently
in Mogadishu) have been unable to definitively confirm Aweys
injury or death. In the most recent telephone conversation,
Somalia Ambassador Mohammed Ali Nur "Americo" alleged that
the TFG was virtually certain that Aweys had been critically
wounded, but was still not ready to confirm it publicly. On
the other hand, a BBC Somalia Service reporter who is a
relative of Aweys told Somalia Unit afternoon, June 7, that
Aweys was unharmed, and offered to arrange a telephone call
with Aweys to prove his point. (Note: Even if Aweys were
wounded, his confederates wouldhave every reason to want to
conceal that fact, in order not to energize the TFG. That
tactic, if now being employed, would have precedent in
Somalia. Just one day before he died of wounds in August
1996, warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed, gave a telephone press
conference in which he alleged that he was healthy.)


3. (C) Other contacts have alleged that Aweys was indeed
wounded or dead. The Radio Simba, Mogadishu, Director told
Somalia Unit that Aweys was wounded in Wabho and taken to El
Bur. Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a contacts in central Somalia
claimed credit for killing Aweys in a June 7 telephone
conversation with Somalia Unit. Radio Shabelle Director
Muhtar Hirabe told us just thirty minutes before he himself
was assassinated in Bakara Market that Aweys was wounded or
dead. On the morning of Hirabe's death, his station had run
the story that Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a was claiming that Aweys
had been wounded in fighting in Wabho. Shabelle Radio's
Programming Chief, Ahmed Omar Hashi "Tajir," who was with
Hirabe, was reportedly also injured in the attack. Hirabe is
the fifth journalist murdered this year in Somalia.

Comment
--------------


4. (C) If true, Aweys's death would deal a serious blow to
the morale of insurgents. opposing the TFG. It was Aweys's
late-April arrival in Somalia from Sudan that seemed to
catalyze the most recent rounds of fighting in Mogadishu.
That fighting began May 7 after weeks of relative calm that
had seen the return of thousands of IDPs to the capital.
RANNEBERGER