Saado Ali Warsame

Saado Ali Warsame (; 1950 – 23 July 2014) was a Somali-American singer-songwriter and politician. She served as a lawmaker in the Federal Parliament of Somalia representing Puntland State of Somalia in 2012 until her assassination. A prominent figure in traditional Somali music, her art and legislative work were centered on political and social justice. On July 23, 2014, she was shot to death by Islamists in Mogadishu.

Personal life Warsame was born in 1950 in Buuhoodle, situated in the Togdheer region of Somalia. She came from a nomadic family of the Khalid Habarwaa sub-clan of the Dhulbahante Harti subdivision of the Darod tribe.

After the start of the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s, Warsame moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. She later resided for a while in St. Cloud.

In 2012, Warsame moved to Somalia to serve in the newly established Federal Government based in Mogadishu.

Career Music Saado Ali Warsame performing at a Somali community event organized in her honour (2011). Warsame was a prominent figure in traditional Somali music. She also blamed incompetent management for infrastructural dilapidation of Mogadishu's then two five-star hotels, establishments which had originally been built with public funds. Additionally, Warsame was one of several prominent Somali artists that took part in the long-running "Deelley" serial poem. She used the opportunity to defend the cause of northerners from the increasingly authoritarian southern-based regime. On 23 July 2014, Warsame and her driver were gunned down by unknown assailants in Mogadishu as she was being driven to a hotel. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was part of its assassination campaign against Somali legislators. President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, UN Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay, Ambassador of Germany to Somalia Andreas Peschke, and the U.S. Department of State all issued statements condemning the assassination and expressing condolences to Warsame's family. Somali American community leaders in Minnesota also requested a full investigation by the State Department into her death. Additionally, Prime Minister Ahmed vowed to apprehend the perpetrators.

Burial On 24 July 2014, the Federal Government held a state funeral in honour of Warsame at the Villa Somalia presidential compound in the capital. President Mohamud, Prime Minister Ahmed, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jaylaani Nur Ikar, Mayor of Mogadishu Hassan Mohamed Hussein Mungab, cabinet ministers, legislators, popular artists and former colleagues all attended the service, where Janaza prayers were read. Warsame was subsequently laid to rest at the Medina Hospital cemetery in Mogadishu's Wadajir district.

Trial In April 2015, two Al-Shabaab operatives were sentenced to death and later executed for Warsame's assassination and the murder of several other federal officials.

2015 Dahabshiil lawsuit In 2015, the son of Saado Ali Warsame, Harbi Hussein, sued the Dahabshiil money-transfer business over claims of funding the militant group Al-Shabaab's murder of his mother. In 2011, Warsame had performed the protest song Dhiigshiil requesting that the Somali community boycott the money transfer company. Dahabshiil denied any allegations of money laundering, terror funding and contract assassination.

Awards Fellow Somalis Hodan Nalayeh and Hassan Abdillahi honouring Saado Ali Warsame at an SRAP event in Toronto (2011). In 2011, Warsame was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by fellow Somalis Hodan Nalayeh of the SRAP and Hassan Abdillahi "Karate" of Ogaal Radio at an SRAP event in Toronto.

Discography "Laand Karuusar" "Aan kuu Taliyo" "Libdhimeyside Laas Caanood, Laba maahaa Waddankeennu"