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Salaad Gabeyre Kediye
صالاد غابييري خيدييي
File:General Kediye.jpg
Died 1972
Place of birth Harardhere, Somalia
Place of death Mogadishu, Somalia
Allegiance Flag of Somalia Somalia
Service/branch Somali National Army
Years of service 1956-1971
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Battles/wars 1964 Border Conflict

Salaad Gabeyre Kediye (Somali language: Salaad Gabeyre Kediye , Arabic language: صالاد غابييري خيدييي‎) (d. 1972), also known as Salah Gaveire Kedie,[1] was a Somali senior military official and a revolutionary.

Biography[]

Kediye was born in Somalia to an Abgaal Hawiye family. A career army man, he received military training at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow (Военнаяакадемия им М. В. Фрунзе), an elite Soviet institution reserved for the most qualified officers of the Warsaw Pact armies and their allies.[2] He later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Somali National Army (SNA).[1]

On October 15, 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards. His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on October 21, 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the SNA seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who at the time commanded the army.[3][4]

Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel. Kediye officially held the title of "Father of the Revolution," and Barre shortly afterwards became the head of the SRC.[5] The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,[6][7] arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties,[8] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.[9]

A power struggle eventually ensued at the SRC's leadership. In 1971, Kediye and then Vice President Muhammad Ainache were charged with attempting to assassinate President Barre. Both men were shortly afterwards found guilty of treason, and along with Colonel Abdulkadir Dheel, were publicly executed the following year.[1][5]

In 2005, Cambridge historian Christopher Andrew published The World Was Going Our Way, a comprehensive account of KGB operations in Africa, Asia and Latin America co-authored with the late KGB Major Vasili Mitrokhin. Based on documents drawn from the Mitrokhin Archive, it alleges that Kediye had been a paid KGB agent codenamed "OPERATOR". Ironically, the KGB-trained National Security Service (NSS), the SRC's intelligence wing, had carried out Kediye's initial arrest.[1]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Andrew, p.448
  2. Ahmed III, Abdul. "Brothers in Arms Part I". WardheerNews. http://wardheernews.com/Articles_2011/Oct/29_Brothers_in_Army_abdul.pdf. Retrieved 28 February 2012. 
  3. Moshe Y. Sachs, Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Volume 2, (Worldmark Press: 1988), p.290.
  4. Lipschutz, pp.285-286
  5. 5.0 5.1 Adam, p.226
  6. J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver, The Cambridge history of Africa, Volume 8, (Cambridge University Press: 1985), p.478.
  7. The Encyclopedia Americana: complete in thirty volumes. Skin to Sumac, Volume 25, (Grolier: 1995), p.214.
  8. Metz, Helen C. (ed.) (1992). "Somalia: A Country Study". Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. .
  9. Peter John de la Fosse Wiles, The New Communist Third World: an essay in political economy, (Taylor & Francis: 1982), p.279.

References[]

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The original article can be found at Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and the edit history here.
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