He was chairman of the Juba Valley Alliance (Isbahaysiga Dooxada Jubba), which declared autonomy from the rest of Somalia in 1998, and controlled Kismayo and the Juba Valley until the defeat of his forces by the ICU in 2006.
With hopes to end the violence, Col. Hirale participated in the Somali Reconciliation Conference, held in Eldoret, Kenya, in 2002 [REF].