Madobe fell into jihad when he was small. Ahmed Mohamed Islam was born in around , in a newly independent Somalia. The country at that time was a young, enthusiastic democracy. More than sixty political parties competed in the elections. The first president, Aden Abdullah Osman was defeated in the polls and ceded power without violence — an unprecedented act in Africa.
Mogadishu, impoverished but hip, was buzzing with cinemas, and nightclubs playing funk and disco, where flares and afros were all the rage. The regime attacked the clans, nomadism and traditional customs. In , men and women achieved equality in the eyes of the law, much to the chagrin of the sheikhs.
Dozens of religious leaders who were opposed to these reforms were executed or imprisoned. In the mids, he joined a new organisation: al-Ittihad al-Islamiya AIAI , the first real armed religious group in the country.
Its appearance marked the beginning of Somali jihadism. At the head of the movement, the religious sheikh Ali Warsame surrounded himself with young, charismatic lieutenants, former army officers with a wide experience of military affairs and at odds with society. The group received logistical support from a young Saudi heir who was based in neighbouring Sudan: Osama bin Laden. Madobe earned his stripes. With Al-Turki, he established a training camp near the small port of Ras Kamboni, on the Kenyan border.
In , Bin Laden was expelled from Sudan and returned to the Afghan mountains. However, the Ras Kamboni Brigade remained active. No doubt fearing US retaliation, the Ras Kamboni vanished into the wild. They reappeared in , when the Union of Islamic Courts semi-political, semi-judicial organizations composed of religious leaders, businessmen and military seized Mogadishu and most of the country, offering a semblance of order and rule of law to an exhausted population.
However, at that time Mogadishu attracted unsavoury characters. From Somalia came Mohamed Kuno, the brains behind the future attack on the University of Garissa victims in , in Kenya.
Or al-Shabab, for short. The group rapidly became the strictest, most brutal militia, but also the one with the most sway in the courts. He was 45 years old at the time. For him, it was his finest hour, the culmination of his years of combat. However, a few years later, on 23 January , Madobe was left for dead, or almost.
Chased down by an American AC bomber, he lay on the ground, somewhere near the Kenyan border, his body ripped apart by bullets. The Islamic Courts were in utter disarray, chased out of power by the Ethiopian army that had invaded Somalia the previous month. Mogadishu and Kismayo fell in less than a week.
VIP in Ethiopia. Madobe appeared to be doomed, but once recovered by the Americans, he was handed over to Ethiopia and survived his injuries. For this, he remains deeply grateful to the Ethiopians, to whom he will stay loyal.
In his golden exile, Madobe reflected. He replayed the film of his life. He repented. Times were tough. The Ethiopians retreated. Al-Shabab, who had gone from a mere militia to a structured military organisation, controlled central and southern Somalia. I was in charge of raising Somali troops. In a possible reflection of the strategic realignments in progress Ethiopian troops in Kismayo now rarely leave their barracks even though Al Shabaab is particularly active in challenging the local rule of Ahmed Mohamed 'Madobe' in Jubaland JubalandWith strong backing from Ethiopia and Kenya Ahmed Madobe has been able to consolidate his grip on Jubaland since his soldiers and the Kenyan Defence Forces expelled Al Shabaab from its most important city Kismayo two years ago Displaying out of 35 results.
He fought with the militia unsuccessfully to take Kismayo in the early s, then joined its raids on Ethiopia. A consummate deal maker, Madobe raised money to allow former Al-Itihaad fighterstoformabase inthewilderness of Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia.
Six years ago, Madobe was on the other side. In early , he fought alongside the Islamic Courts Union for control of Mogadishu. After Kismayo fell to Ethiopian troops on 1 January , Madobe was hit by an American air strike and ended up in Ethiopian custody. Madobe retreated to Dhobley on the border with Kenya and started getting support from Nairobi to attack Al- Shabaab positions. With his charismatic leadership, the pain of defeat was a little more bearable. By October , Madobe was back in Kismayo.
But he insisted the city was for its inhabitants not the government in Mogadishu. We believe that Africa is poorly represented, and badly under-estimated.
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