Mohammed Haji-Ali Shirwa

Who was Mohammed Haji-Ali Shirwa?

Mohammed Haji-Ali Shirwa, a son of former Somali seamen and the brother of Omar Haji Ali, a former Somali diplomat, was a former colonel in Somali Army and poet who collected many Somali and North Somali poets by writing and saving for generation to come, however his books are yet to published, as he died 9 Novetmber 2009 in Amsterdam, where he lived and had acquired Dutch citizenship.

Colonel Mohammed Haji Ali was born in 1937 at Durduri town east of Laasqoray on the red sea coast, his early years grew up in Laasqoray were his dad, Haji-Ali, returned to after World War I in which he participated in England.

After World War II, Young Mohammed went to live in Aden, Yemen, where he studied and finished his secondary education and then Joined Police forces in Aden.

Colonel Mohammed returned to his native Somalia after the Somali independence and union in 1964 and straight away joined the young Somali military forces, After the coup in Somalia in 1969, Colonel Mohammed has been sent to Soviet, Iraq and USA for further study in military training.

Colonel Mohammed was injured in Somali-Ethiopian war of 1977-78 when his soldiers went to attack the strategic town of Godey, after the war he retired due to his injuries and worked for Former Somali National Security Services for number of years and then he retired from it and went to Business as he imported raw material for building in Mogadishu until the civil war started in Somalia's capital in late 1990.