I received this sad news from a lawyer member of the PC group, who kept in touch with the General after he moved to the US. AUN.
"For those of you who knew General Mohamed Abshir, Commander of the Somali National Police Force from independence until the Siad Barre coup, he passed away today.
For those of you who did not know him personally, he was a great friend of the Peace Corps. In the early years, he made all the District Police stations' radio communications available to PCVs in the field and the police District Commanders were instructed to ensure the safety of PCVs in their Districts.
For Somali 4s, he partnered with Bob Blackburn in our memorable Taleh (Taleex) adventure and enabled us to travel from Hargeisa by Mercedes police troop transports to Said Mohamed's fortress. And of course to meet Major Cosa Fare and the Darawish and to spend that remarkable Independence Day celebration outside the walls of Taleh.
I know from working at Police Headquarters for almost two years, and my meetings with him in the 1980s after he was released from solitary confinement in prison, he was a true Somali nationalist and a democrat (with a small d.)
I last saw him in Bosasso in 1993 when he was fighting Islamic extremists and saving, what is now Puntland, from the ravages of the warlords and clan in fighting. Subsequently, he came to the US and settled in Minnesota and he and I had numerous telephone calls over the years, usually on Idd al Fitr and July 1st. In the past few years he suffered from dementia but something deep within him remembered and he always asked me to extend his best wishes to Howa (Evelyn.)
Regards Marty"
Here's his Wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Abshir_Muse
He is the large man at the left in this photo, taken at our group's initiation at Taleex, the first week of July, 1966. I am next to the flag on the right.
"For those of you who knew General Mohamed Abshir, Commander of the Somali National Police Force from independence until the Siad Barre coup, he passed away today.
For those of you who did not know him personally, he was a great friend of the Peace Corps. In the early years, he made all the District Police stations' radio communications available to PCVs in the field and the police District Commanders were instructed to ensure the safety of PCVs in their Districts.
For Somali 4s, he partnered with Bob Blackburn in our memorable Taleh (Taleex) adventure and enabled us to travel from Hargeisa by Mercedes police troop transports to Said Mohamed's fortress. And of course to meet Major Cosa Fare and the Darawish and to spend that remarkable Independence Day celebration outside the walls of Taleh.
I know from working at Police Headquarters for almost two years, and my meetings with him in the 1980s after he was released from solitary confinement in prison, he was a true Somali nationalist and a democrat (with a small d.)
I last saw him in Bosasso in 1993 when he was fighting Islamic extremists and saving, what is now Puntland, from the ravages of the warlords and clan in fighting. Subsequently, he came to the US and settled in Minnesota and he and I had numerous telephone calls over the years, usually on Idd al Fitr and July 1st. In the past few years he suffered from dementia but something deep within him remembered and he always asked me to extend his best wishes to Howa (Evelyn.)
Regards Marty"
Here's his Wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Abshir_Muse
He is the large man at the left in this photo, taken at our group's initiation at Taleex, the first week of July, 1966. I am next to the flag on the right.