Deaths on August 1

Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somalian general and politician, 5th President of Somalia (b. 1934)

Mohamed Farrah Hassan Aidid (Somali: Maxamed Faarax Xasan Caydiid; Arabic: محمد فرح حسن عيديد; 15 December 1934 – 1 August 1996) was a Somali former general and diplomat, he was the chairman of the United Somali Congress (USC) and later led the Somali National Alliance (SNA). Along with other armed opposition groups, he succeeded in overthrowing and exiling President Mohamed Siad Barre's socialist and communist regime from Somalia during the Somali Civil War that broke out in the early 1990s.

In 1992, Aidid attacked United Nations troops, causing him to be named the world’s first Wanted Man of the Unified Task Force. After UN peacekeepers withdrew in 1993, 19 American soldiers were killed by Aidid's forces, which also attacked peacekeepers, incited violence, and committed crimes against humanity at Aidid's behest.On 1 August 1996, Aidid suffered a heart attack after being wounded and died at the age of 61.