Garad Jama Garad

Garad Jama Garad Ali is the traditional clan sultan (Garad) of the Dhulbahante. On May 22, 2006 he was crowned in Las Anod in the presences of a large crowd, including high-ranking dignitaries from the Somali Government, Somali Region, Somaliland, and Puntland region Somalia. Jama was born in 1974 as the son of Garad Ali Garad Jama in the city of Las Anod, Sool region. He belongs to the Baharsame in Farah Garad in Dhulbahante clan. According to another source, he has Sahdheer as his hometown. In 1985, his father Garad Ali died. At this time Jama was 15 years old, too young to assume the position of Garad, so the position was taken over by Garad Abdiqani Garad Jama, brother of Garad Ali. On 9 February 2006, Garad Abdiqani Garad Jama died paving the way for Jama to resume the responsibility.

His coronation which took place on May 22, 2006, in Geedo-Qarsay Valley, near Las Anod brought together, for the first time after the collapse of Somali Government in 1991, a large number of politically diverse politicians. On January 23, 2023, Garad Jama visited Las Anod for the first time in 15 years, where he was welcomed. Garad Jama said that the Somaliland government was cause of the chaos in Las Anod and killing civilians who was protesting peacefully in the city of Las Anod will no longer be controlled by Hargeisa.

After that, Jama was at the front leading the army of SSC-Khatumo as they went to war with the military of Somaliland fighting for the cause of independent from Hargeisa. In late August 2023, the forces of SSC, who achieved a series of victories against SNM of Somaliland, captured the famous base of Gojacade and the Maraaga area previously controlled by the Hargeisa army. In October, 2023, Garad Jama’s long struggle became successful as the Federal Government has granted recognition to SSC-Khatumo as a federal state. Once part of Somaliland, SSC-Khatumo now stands independently within the federation, a status that has sparked celebration, conjecture, and a new chapter in the country’s ongoing narrative of strife and unity.