Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan

Morgan was born in 1949 in Gardo. He received his military training in Italy and the USA. As a colonel, he was commander of the Mogadishu sector, where the elite units of the Armed Forces were stationed (ca. 1980);{{cite web|url=http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/somalia/1994/dawn_of_civilization/chapter_16.htm|title=A letter to the editor of "Horn of Africa" journal published in U.S.A. (Vol. 2 No. 4) 1980-81, written by Ahmed A. Deria, Nairobi|publisher=}} this was probably Sector 77.

Morgan then went on to become commander of the Red Berets,{{cite web|url=http://www.italosomali.org/Lords.htm|title=italosomali.org - italosomali ancis ANCIS italia Somalia Italosomali Italo somali comunit italo somala Resources and Information.|website=www.italosomali.org}}{{Cite book|last=Harned|first=Glenn M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQ06zQEACAAJ|title=Stability Operations in Somalia 1992-1993: A Case Study|date=2016|publisher=United States Army War College Press|language=en}} responsible for the suppression of the revolt of the Majerteen United in the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) in 1982. From 1986 to 1988, as a general, he was the military commander of the 26th Sector (the region of Somaliland) and in September 1990 he was appointed as minister of defense and substitute head of state. He was also minister of public works and housing from 1990 to 1991. Morgan then led as a malitia commander the Pro-Barre rebel group of Somali National Front (1991-2003) which committed huge attrocities against the people between the two rivers; Juba and Shabele by killing, raping, destroying the irrigation systems, and looting their stored grains (Bakaar) which ultimately led to the great Caga barar famine of 1992 Somali drought which nearly 300,000 innocent people (mainly Digil & Mirifle) starved to death because of the after maths the rebel's genocidal tactitics and Aidid's refusal and looting of the humanatarian aid brought by the Operations Restore Hope or Unified Task Force (UTF).{{Cite web |last=Samatar |first=Abdi Ismail |title=Genocidal politics and the Somali famine |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2011/7/30/genocidal-politics-and-the-somali-famine |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}} Morgan plainly stated in a public video{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=FjGLSYxlsGN2_VHv&v=2HQnWMPP2iM&feature=youtu.be |title=Xasuuqii Morgan uu ugeystey Raxweyn sanadkii 1991-1993 |date=2018-11-15 |last=Tariikhda SDM |access-date=2025-04-18 |via=YouTube}} that "his malita are surviving on looted Rahwayn's grains", in order to promote the 'endurance' of his malitia and motivate his tribal leaders to support his malatia.{{Cite web |date=2009-10-29 |title=Somali Factional Leader Returns for Peace Talks - 2004-09-27 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2004-09-27-20-1-67361617/273520.html |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}

{{Main|Isaaq genocide|Somaliland War of Independence}}

Before the fall of the government and the subsequent 1991 civil war, Morgan was recognized as a state-sponsored war criminal. Morgan was one of the main government officials who spearheaded the state sponsored genocide in Somaliland against the Isaaq clan. This information has been thoroughly documented by Human Rights Watch. Morgan has yet to be tried by the international courts for his crimes against humanity.{{Cite news|last1=Einashe|first1=Ismail|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/in-the-valley-of-death-somalilands-forgotten-genocide/|title=In the Valley of Death: Somaliland's Forgotten Genocide|date=2018-10-22|access-date=2020-03-04|last2=Kennard|first2=Matt|journal=The Nation|language=en-US|issn=0027-8378}}

In January 1986, Morgan, who was Barre's bodyguard before he married his daughter{{Cite book|last=Mukhtar|first=Mohamed Haji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPwOsOcNy5YC&pg=PA158|title=Historical Dictionary of Somalia|date=2003-02-25|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6604-1|language=en}} reportedly told Isaaq nomads at a waterhole "if you Isaaqs resist, we will destroy your towns, and you will inherit only ashes".{{Cite book|last=Abdullahi|first=Mohamed Diriye|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Nu918tYMB8C&pg=PA37|title=Culture and Customs of Somalia|date=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31333-2|language=en}}

Morgan (later to be known as the Butcher of Hargeisa){{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1747697.stm#mshm|title=Analysis: Somalia's powerbrokers|date=2002-01-08|access-date=2020-03-04|language=en-GB}} was also responsible for the policy letter written to his father-in-law during his time as the military governor of the north.{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=I. M.|url=https://archive.org/details/bloodbonecallofk00ioan|title=Blood and bone : the call of kinship in Somali society|date=1994|publisher=Lawrenceville, N.J. : Red Sea Press|others=Internet Archive}} In this letter which came to be known as 'The Letter of Death',{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Adam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZybbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22had+written+a+letter+to+his+father-in-law,+which+subsequently+become+known+as%22|title=Genocide, war crimes and the West: history and complicity|date=July 2004|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-84277-191-4|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgAEAQAAIAAJ&q=%22In+a+now+infamous+letter+(see+AE+August,+1987)+he+had+addressed%22|title=Africa Events|date=1989|publisher=Dar es Salaam Limited|language=en}} he "proposed the foundations for a scorched-earth policy to get rid of 'anti-Somali germs'".

The policy letter (also known as the Morgan Report){{Cite book|last=Richards|first=Rebecca|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vz6gCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202|title=Understanding Statebuilding: Traditional Governance and the Modern State in Somaliland|date=2016-02-24|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-00466-0|language=en}} was officially a top secret report to the president on "implemented and recommended measures" for a "final solution" to Somalia's "Isaaq problem".{{Cite book|last1=Robins|first1=Nicholas A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AX3UCk_PdEwC&pg=PA149|title=Genocides by the Oppressed: Subaltern Genocide in Theory and Practice|last2=Jones|first2=Adam|date=2009|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-22077-6|language=en}} Morgan indicated that the Isaaq people must be "subjected to a campaign of obliteration" in order to prevent them from "rais[ing] their heads again". He continued: "Today, we possess the right remedy for the virus in the [body of the] Somali State." Some of the "remedies" he discussed included: "Balancing the well-to-do to eliminate the concentration of wealth [in the hands of Isaaq]."{{Cite book|last=Mburu|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7w8VAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Balancing+the+well-to-do+to+eliminate+the+concentration+of+wealth%22|title=Past Human Rights Abuses in Somalia: Report of a Preliminary Study Conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia)|date=2002|language=en}} In addition, he called for "the reconstruction of the Local Council [in Isaaq settlements] in such a way as to balance its present membership which is exclusively from a particular people [the Isaaq]; as well as the dilution of the school population with an infusion of [Ogaden] children from the Refugee Camps in the vicinity of Hargeisa".{{Cite book|last=Mburu|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7w8VAQAAIAAJ&q=%22dilution+of+the+school+population+with+an+infusion+of+children%22|title=Past Human Rights Abuses in Somalia: Report of a Preliminary Study Conducted for the United Nations (OHCHR/UNDP-Somalia)|date=2002|language=en}}

More extreme recommendations included: "Rendering uninhabitable the territory between the army and the enemy, which can be done by destroying the water tanks and the villages lying across the territory used by them for infiltration"; and "removing from the membership of the armed forces and civil service all those who are open to suspicion of aiding the enemy – especially those holding sensitive posts".

William Clarke writes that Morgan was appointed as Somali National Army commander-in-chief on 25 November 1990.{{cite book|first=Walter S. |last=Clarke |title=Background Information for Operation Restore Hope |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a259777.pdf |publisher=Strategic Studies Institute |place=Carlisle, Pennsylvania |date=December 1992 |access-date=13 July 2019 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713190650/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a259777.pdf |url-status=dead |page=31}}

On January 8, 1993 Morgan was one of the signatories of agreement reached at the UN-sponsored Informal Preparatory Meeting on National Reconciliation, and the March 1993 Conference on National Reconciliation in Somalia, both in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[http://www.usip.org/library/pa/somalia/somalia_01081993_gen.html The General Agreement signed in Addis Ababa on 8 January 1993] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061229002225/http://www.usip.org/library/pa/somalia/somalia_01081993_gen.html |date=29 December 2006 }} The United Nations and Somalia 1992-1996[http://www.usip.org/library/pa/somalia/somalia_03271993.html Addis Ababa Agreement concluded at the first session of the Conference on National Reconciliation in Somalia, 27 March 1993] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813164536/http://www.usip.org/library/pa/somalia/somalia_03271993.html |date=13 August 2008 }} The United Nations and Somalia 1992-1996 However, fighting continued in the country unabated.

In December 1993, Morgan's troops captured Kismayo, and awaited the departure of Belgian UN peacekeepers who were stationed there. His troops had taken advantage of the UN's preoccupation with Mohamed Farah Aidid and had rearmed and regrouped.[http://www.etext.org/Politics/Somalia.News.Update/Volume.2/snu-2.36 Spinning Dunkirk: The Pentagon Quits Somalia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221041750/http://www.etext.org/Politics/Somalia.News.Update/Volume.2/snu-2.36 |date=2007-02-21 }} Somalia News Update

Morgan was present at the conclusion of the peace talks in Kenya (2002–2004) in which a transitional Somali Transitional National Government (later to become the Transitional Federal Government) was formed. This conclusion, however, was put to risk in September 2004 by the withdrawal of Morgan, who prepared his forces to attack Kismayu, controlled by the JVA which had ousted him in 1999.[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article28129.ece Somali warlord prepares assault on rival as peace talks falter] The Independent, 8 September 2004

According to Amnesty International "his presence at the peace talks, more than any of the other warlords, had highlighted the significance of the issue of impunity and its effect on human rights in the future."[https://www.amnesty.org.ru/library/pdf/AFR520012005ENGLISH/$File/AFR5200105.pdf. Somalia: Urgent need for effective human rights protection under the new transitional government] Amnesty International (PDF)

In May 2005 Morgan left Nairobi to pay a short visit with his militia in Mogadishu and talked to representatives of the USC.{{cite web|url=http://somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/458|title=Somalinet May 25, 2005 "General Morgan left Nairobi for Mogadishu"|publisher=}} The battle between the militia and the Islamic Courts Union for the control of the capital would start February 2006. Members of this same USC have been the victims of atrocities by Morgan's troops in 1992. In that year the SNF retook, with assistance of the Kenyan military (in violation of a United Nations Security Council arms embargo), the Gedo region. In October 1992, the SNF captured the town of Bardera, committing atrocities against civilians who were thought to have supported the USC (solely on the basis of their clan identity) and greatly disrupting relief efforts.{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/somalia/|title=SOMALIA|website=www.hrw.org}}

In 1991, when Morgan was minister of defense in the Barre government, there still were 54,000 soldiers under his command. Fourteen years later only 1,000 of them remained.For the force levels of the Somali National Army, see: [http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JCS/bin/get.cgi?directory=J97/articles/&filename=BAGYEMA1.htm The Journal of Conflict Studies, Vol. XVI No. 2, Fall 1996, "The Horn of Africa: Conflict, Demilitarization and Reconstruction", chapter Dimensions of Militarization, section: Growth in Force Levels and Expenditure] by Baffour Agyeman-Duah. For the force level of the SNF, see Peacekeeping and Policing in Somalia, by Lynn Thomas and Steve Spataro, Chapter "Background", section "Capacity for Self-Governance": "Mohammed Said Hersi "Morgan" had a well-organized force of 1,000 former soldiers" (in:in R. B. Oakley, M. J. Dziedzic, and E. M. Goldberg, eds., Policing the New World Disorder: Peace Operations and Public Security (Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1998), ch. 6 pp. 175-214 {{cite web |url=http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/Books%20-%201998/Policing%20the%20New%20World%20Disorder%20-%20May%2098/chapter6.html |title=Peacekeeping and Policing in Somalia |accessdate=2007-01-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209230740/http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/Books%20-%201998/Policing%20the%20New%20World%20Disorder%20-%20May%2098/chapter6.html |archivedate=2007-02-09 }}) Morgan's family lives in the United States.

• Somali Civil War
• Military of Somalia
• Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1747697.stm#mshm BBC News Information about Hersi Morgan (2002)]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3692934.stm BBC News Information about Hersi Morgan (2004)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120206033118/http://www.sirag.org.uk/buchters-majeerteeniya-hargeisa.htm The Butchers of Majertenia, Hargeisa Politically isolated] O. M. Nur {OJ}, Toronto, Canada
• [http://www.somalitalk.com/editorial/riyale.html Justice for the Atrocities of the 1980s: The Responsibility of Politicians and Political Parties], Rakiya A. Omaar
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20000818073420/http://www.netnomad.com/parmalee.html Waltzing With Warlords; Will the West Make Martyrs of Thugs in Somalia?]Washington Post Jennifer Parmelee, 1993
• [http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/somaliajustice/default.asp IRIN WebSpecial: A Decent Burial - Somalis yearn for justice] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2001

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hersi Morgan, Mohammed Said}}

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:Defence ministers of Somalia

Category:Public works ministers of Somalia

Category:Somali National Front politicians

Category:Somalian faction leaders

Category:Isaaq genocide perpetrators