Matthew Bryden is a Canadian political analyst. He worked for several aid and political organizations in Somalia after witnessing the conditions in the region during his leave from the Canadian military in 1987. He served as the Coordinator for the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea from 2008-2012. He is now a Director at a think tank, Sahan Research.
Early life
Matthew Bryden was born in the UK and grew up in Canada. He attended Upper Canada College in Toronto, where he graduated in 1985. Bryden joined the Canadian Forces Reserve and became interested in African aid programs after visiting the region during a military leave in 1987.
Career
Bryden was hired by the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere program in January 1988 and the following year joined the United Nations Development Program in Berbera, Somalia. He was reassigned to Nairobi, Kenya in August 1990, when the UN evacuated non-essential staff. In 1992, Bryden was appointed Special Advisor to the Canadian Ambassador on Somali Affairs. He led the War-torn Societies Project from 1996 to 2003 and in the two years following acted as the Horn of Africa Director for the International Crisis Group. From 2007 to 2008, he served as an adviser on Somali affairs for the United States Agency for International DevelopmentUSAID and the US embassy. In 2008, Bryden was appointed Coordinator of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, which monitored violations of the general and complete arms embargo introduced by United Nations Security Council Resolution 733 on 23 January 1992. According to journalist Robert Young Pelton, under Bryden's tenure the SEMG's reports grew, "accusing both friend and foe of violations." This included reports that the United States violated the embargo when making anti-terrorist missile strikes, and an incident where two journalists were detained under suspicions of being mercenaries. Bryden said he considered any munitions delivered to Somalia to be a breach of the embargo. Bryden accused then Puntland President Abdirahman Farole and other government officials of being on the payroll of pirate gangs. Abdirahman Farole in turn accused Bryden of using his position at the SEMG to create inflated reports of munitions in the neighboring regions of Somaliland in order to support his interest in the secession of Somaliland. He noted Bryden was married to a well-connected woman from the region's dominant, Isaaq clan. In 2012 a report by the SEMG was leaked accusing Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of corruption and Ahmed responded in July by saying Bryden was "against peace in Somalia." That summer Bryden was no longer with the UN. Bryden is now considered a leading authority on the insurgency in Somali. As of 2013, Bryden was serving as a Director at Sahan Research, an independent Nairobi-based think tank.
Personal life
Bryden is married with three children and, as of 2010, lives in Nairobi, Kenya. Bryden speaks fluent Somali, and holds a Somaliland passport.
