Somalia has lost one of its most prominent historical figures with the passing of General Ahmed Suleiman Abdalla (Dafle), who died in Brussels, Belgium.
He was a key figure in the former Somali military government, known for his pivotal role in shaping the country’s internal security infrastructure and political landscape.
General Ahmed Suleiman Dafle served as the former Minister of Interior and was a senior member of the Supreme Political Council of the former Military Government.
He was also the first Commander of the Somali National Security and Intelligence Agency (NSS), an institution that played a major role in maintaining national security during the 1970s and 1980s.
Born in 1937 in Burao, a town in the Togdheer region of northern Somalia, General Dafle was appointed as head of the NSS in 1971, a post he held for several years before assuming various other high-level government roles during the military regime.
He was also the son-in-law of the late President Mohamed Siad Barre, the former head of the Somali Military Government.
After the collapse of the central government in 1991, General Dafle lived for some time in Eritrea before relocating to Belgium, where he spent his final years. He passed away this evening in Brussels.