Abdulla Shamaal

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Lieutenant General Abdulla Shamaal
Major General Abdulla Shamaal.jpg
Born5 July 1969 (1969-07-05) (age 55)
Allegiance Maldives
Service / branch Maldives National Defence Force
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands Chief of Defence Force

Lieutenant General (retd) Abdulla Shamaal MA MSc ndu psc (born 5 July 1969) is the former Chief of Defence Force (CDF) of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). [1] [2] General Shamaal was appointed to the post of Chief of Defence Force on 11 December 2018 by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and served until 17 November 2023. Shamaal was trained in various military institutions such as the United States Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, the Pakistan Military Academy and the Defence Services Staff College in India. Shamaal was previously discharged from service in November 2013 but was reinstated in December 2018 following High Court verdict that his discharge was unlawful. He has also held various Senior Command, Staff and Instructional appointments during his career.

Contents

Academic qualifications

Military training

Achievements

Decorations

Shamaal has been decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal, Presidential Medal, Dedicated Service Medal, Defence Force Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, three November Medals and Centenary Medal.

Family

He is married to Fathimath Firasha, and has three daughters, Fathmath Yasmeen Shamaal, Aishath Yara Shamaal and Aminath Emma Shamaal.

Other work highlights

In the period of 2009 to 2010, Gen. Shamaal also had the opportunity to take the initiative and play a key role in drafting and educating political leaders and security managers on the National Security Framework envisioned in the Strategic Action Plan of the President's Office of the Maldives.

With the transformation to a multi -party democracy in the Maldives in 2008, with the aim of aligning the armed forces with a democratic system, Shamaal helped the Ministry of Defence draft the new strategic vision for the armed forces – the Strategic Defence Directive (SDD) in May 2009. The aim of the SDD was to conceptualise the national security related policy and the defence structure of the country. It was the first explicit defence policy document written in the country's history which gave policy, strategic and doctrinal guidance to the defence establishment.

Shamaal also has the honour of being a senior member of the team that represented the presentation of the claim on the Maldives continental shelf at the United Nations HQ in New York, in March 2011. Later, he was also a senior member of the defence team that represented Maldives at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, where they formally indicated the Maldives’ desire to take part in the UN peacekeeping operations in the future. His office in the Defence Ministry initiated and drafted the project for the soldiers to take part in the peacekeeping operations.

With the assistance from the United States government, and other countries, he has been able to host and coordinate several workshops and forums to educate and train the broader security community, practitioners and the political elite in the country on the need to create integration, participation and synergy within security agencies, and facilitate the democratisation and nation-building process.

References

  1. "President appoints new police and military chiefs". Maldives Independent. 12 December 2018.
  2. "Shamaal appointed as Chief of Defence Force". The Edition. 19 July 2021. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.