Beledweyne

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official_name = Beledweyne
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pushpin_map_caption =Location in Somalia
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subdivision_name = flag|Somalia
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subdivision_name1 = Hiraan
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timezone =East Africa Time
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Beledweyne ( _so. "Beledweyne")(بليث وين) is a city in central Somalia. It is the capital of the Hiraan province, and is located in the central valley of the Shebelle River near the border with Ethiopia, some 206 miles (332 km) north of the capital Mogadishu. Straddling a meander of the river, it consists of four main districts called: Oktoobar (Buundoweyn), Howlwadaag, Kooshin and Xaawotaako. The Shabelle river divides the town into east and west.

Beledweyne is one of the oldest cities in Somalia, and the city where the first generation of modern Somali politicians have their roots, from Aden Abdullah Osman Daar to Mohamed Farah Aidid. Following the relocation of his capital to Taleex in 1909, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and the Darwiish Army constructed a fort here to consolidate his control over the Ogaden [Said S. Samatar, "Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism" (Cambridge: University Press, 1982), pp. 133] . The Darwiish army sent to Beledweyne and the rest of Hiiraan was led by Maxamed Macalin Cagadhiig from the Dhulbahante Clan.

After the death of Hasan Qalaad, Mr. Abdullahi Abdi Aaden (Koofi) was in charge of the town until the transitional Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed nominated Yusuf Ahmed Hagar (also known as Yusuf Mohamud Hagar ("Dabageed") [cite news |title=Anti ICU lost key towns in Somalia |url=http://www.somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/6127 |publisher=SomaliNet |date=December 25, 2006 |accessdate=2006-12-25] ) as the new governor of the region. He had been forced to flee by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) whose forces, under the command of Yusuf Makaraan took the town in August 2006 and established a sharia court under Sheik Farah Moalim. [http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=543&language_id=1 Somalia's Conflict Enters a Phase of Duress] PINR] [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060825-1045-somalia-strategictown.html Islamic leader in key Somali town says 'the world better learn who we are' ] Associated Press] Though "Dabageed" returned to the town following the Battle of Beledweyne, on January 1, 2007, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed declared Hussein Mohamud Moalim as new administrator for Hiiran region, replacing Dabageed, and Saleyman Ahmed Hilowle was nominated as assistant administrator. [http://www.shabelle.net/news/ne1975.htm Somali president nominates a new administrator for Hiran region] Shabelle Media Network]

Clan strife

The Hawiye Hawadle clan controls the eastern part of town. The western part of town is controlled by Gaaljecel and the Gugundhabe, which are also Hawiye subclans. The town also counts a number of non-Somali residents from the Bantu (Makane) minority ethnic group. In June 2005, fighting between the Hawiye Gaaljecel and Jajeele sub-clans in the western end of town lasted for four days and resulted in 30 dead, 70 wounded and hundreds more displaced. This left the town on uneasy footing. [http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47550 SOMALIA: Death toll rises as fighting continues in Beletweyne] IRIN]

There were also reprisal killings of suspected Islamists following the December 2006 Battle of Beledweyne.cite news
first=Aweys Osman
last=Yusuf
title =Somalis in Hiran urged not hunt down former Islamist fighters
publisher =shabelle.net
date =2006-12-31
url =http://www.shabelle.net/news/ne1968.htm
accessdate = 2007-01-05 ]

Military history

Beledweyne is considered a strategically important town. During the 1970s, it was a staging area for the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF), which sought to liberate the Ogaden region and annex it to form a Greater Somalia. When the Ethiopian army with the help of Soviet and Cuban troops drove the Somali army out of the Ogaden during the Ogaden War, Beledweyne became the center of a refugee crisis that brought tens of thousands of Ogadeni refugees from the Ogaden into Somalia. The Ogadenis, part of the Somali Darood clan, clashed with local Hawadle of the Hawiye clan and set off the events that eventually led to Somalia's civil war.Fact|date=August 2008

During the War in Somalia (2006-present), the internationally-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), supported by Ethiopian troops, took the town from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).

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