Abdullahi Afrah

Abdullahi Ali Afrah (March 9, 1953 – July 1, 2008) was Somali militant and leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) during the Somali Civil War.

Life Afrah was born in Ceelgaras, Somalia. He left there with his parents to Mogadishu when he was five years old.

After he got his master's degree, Asparo moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he stayed for ten more years.

Education Afrah got his bachelor's degree in Agricultural from Lafoole University in 1983, and his master's degree in Crop science from Texas Tech University in 1986. He also got a bachelor's degree in the Islamic studies from the University of Science and Technology, Sana'a in 2005. He joined a variety of other universities but did not complete.

Canada Afrah moved to Toronto following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991, became a Canadian citizen

Return to Somalia and Islamic Courts Union In 1996, Asparo moved back to Somalia with his family. "I have been there, just like everybody else, working and trying to make a good life. I tried my best and when I finished my intention to stay there I just moved back to Somalia", Afrah said, during a telephone interview with National Post.

He took his wife and children back to Mogadishu in 1997,

After the ICU were defeated in the end of 2006, following an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia that same year, Afrah stayed behind in Mogadishu. In a telephone interview with Canadian journalist Michelle Shephard, Afrah said that "the only solution is that Ethiopia should get out of Somalia peacefully, or with force," and he vowed that "they will be out, either willingly or unwillingly."

Death On 1 July 2008, on his way back from his birthplace (Ceelgaras), Asparo was killed by the Ethiopian troops during a violent fighting in central Somalia, in a place called Matabaan, in Hiiraan province.