Mohamed Hashi Lihle

Mohamed Hashi Dirie , commonly known as Lihle was a Somali military leader, colonel of the Somali National Army and later the commander of the military wing of the Somali National Movement. He belonged to the Farah Mohamed branch of the Musa Abdallah subclan of the Habr Yunis.

Early life and career Lihle was born in Go'dda Weyn in Togdheer in 1945 as the youngest of five children, born to Hashi Dirie and Ardo Dirie. He lived in Go'dda Weyn until he was 8 years old when the family moved to Burco where his father worked as a military sergeant, and Lihle attended his Quranic education in Burco. The name “Lihle” means “Equal to Six”, and is rather a nickname than a given name, “Lixle” comes from the Somali word “Lix” meaning “six”, it was given to him by his school teacher. When Lihle was attending school, he got into a fight with six other students, where he fought them all off. His teacher broke them apart, amazed, he then said “This one is equal to six [lixle] if he fought off six men”.

Lihle attended the SOS Sheikh Secondary School for boys. He graduated in 1964 and Once he graduated he joined the Somali military in 1964. Lihle was among the top 6 students of his school, and those 6 students were was sent to the Soviet Union for further advanced-level training. Lihle specialized in Tanks, and Upon his return in 1969 Lihle was stationed at the Kismayo Military academy where he trained the next generation of army cadets, specializing in motorized and mechanized warfare. Lihle participated in the Ogaden War and was considered a war hero within the Somali Armed Forces. During the course of his army career he held the ranks of first and second lieutenant (Xidigle), Captain (Dhamme), Major (Gaashaanle), Lieutenant Colonel (Gaashaanle Dhexe) and Colonel (Gaashaanle sare). The latter rank is the third-highest a commissioned officer can achieve in the Somali National Army. According to SNM sources, the attack freed hundreds of prisoners; subsequent independent estimates suggested that 700 political prisoners were released. At the same time, SNM commando units invaded the Adadley armoury near Berbera and escaped with an undetermined amount of arms and ammunition. It was considered the "most striking initial military success" of the SNM. Lihle's leadership is said to have created a more cohesive, highly organized and disciplined force.

Lihle's speech to the freed Mandera prisoners: O prisoners, you are from everywhere.'- Now we will release you. You have three options to choose from: (1) whoever wants to join the SNM, as we are fighting the regime, you can come and join the Jihad (struggle); (2) whoever wants to go and join his family, we will help you get back home; (3) whoever wants to join the regime, you should know we pushed them back to Abdaal when we came; so go to them and we will not do anything to you until you reach them. But be careful: we might attack you later and then our bullets will hurt you. So choose one of these options.

New African Magazine in 1989 states: The SNM is very popular among the Somalis especially in the Northern Regions. Within the six year period that they were operating from Ethiopia, they carried out many successful military operations and created military heros like Mohamed Ali, Colonel Lihle, and Captain Ibrahim Kodbur.

Death

On 17 October 1984 the SNM commando units led by Colonel Lihle clashed with the SNA at the Somali-Ethiopia border town of Burao-Durey. The SNM suffered heavy losses and Lihle died on the battlefield. His death was considered a major blow to the SNM movement. Lihle is considered a hero in Somaliland and has roads and districts named after him.