Osman Ali Atto

Osman Hassan Ali Atto (c. 1940 – August 5, 2013), also spelled Ato, was a Somali faction leader and politician affiliated with the Somali National Alliance.

Atto owned the biggest landed property in Somalia, including many of the buildings in Mogadishu that were rented to relief agencies and the media. He derived significant profits from a tanker trucking company operating from a strategically situated truck yard at Eldoret, in northwestern Kenya, from which he shipped gasoline to Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. This business was allegedly operated by his relatives. In addition to his Somali passport, Atto used passports from Kenya, the United States, and possibly Italy.

Atto was a manager of an American oil company during the Somali Civil War. Later, he founded his own oil company and reportedly acquired a stake in Bluebird Aviation during the early 1990s in order to import khat from his close relatives who were based in Kenya.

Osman Ali Atto was already wealthy and strategically well positioned when the civil war started in the spring of 1990. Atto had also been involved with the construction industry. He had been able to acquire trucks and heavy construction machinery, making him the only Somali capable of being a reliable contractor for construction projects by Western companies. Among the Somali country managers of international oil companies, Atto was known as "Monsieur Dozer" because of his ability to cut through the most difficult territory and establish access roads to remote sites. His monopoly made him powerful before other faction leaders started to ascend.

Atto was the khat industry leader during the early nineties', when he was second in command to Mohammed Farah Aidid. Aidid thus became the strongest faction leader. Atto was also said to be involved in trade of hashish from countries in Asia, which was smuggled into Kenya and Tanzania on vessels and small boats. Information indicates that they exported more than 400 kilograms of hashish to neighbouring countries. There has also been information about marijuana plantations in Camba, Jilib and Merere in the Jubba Valley region.

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