By Athman Amran
Former President of the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed died in Dubai on Friday still regretting his failure to end Somaliaâs 23-year conflict.
He had been granted political asylum in Yemen in 2009 after resigning as TFG president in December 2008.
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. He was decorated for courage, but would remain a colonel throughout his military career. [PHOTO: COURTESY]
Ahmed had expressed regret for failing to fulfil his governmentâs mandate while announcing his resignation on national radio.
As president, he had pledged to promote reconciliation and to set about rebuilding the country.
He left Somalia under the grip of the Al Shabaab, one of the splinter groups of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which with the help of Ethiopia, he drove out of the country.
But Ahmed would perhaps be one of the few internationally recognised presidents who tried to govern a country, which is regarded as one of the most dangerous places on earth. He also presided over a country where a big portion was not under his control.
Ahmed had several attempts to his life. On September 18, 2006, a suicide car bomber smashed his vehicle into the presidentâs convoy outside the National Parliament in Baidoa.
The attack killed four of his bodyguards and his brother. Six attackers were also killed in the subsequent gun battle. Ahmedâs life was most likely saved by the fact that he was travelling in the second vehicle in the convoy rather than the front one, which was a decoy.
Living on the edge
The ICU, which at the time controlled the southern half of the country, was blamed for the attack.
