He served as the chairman of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), and subsequently as the first President of the short-lived Southwestern Somalia autonomous regional state.

Shatigaduud was finally laid to rest in Baidoa's main cemetery, with a large crowd attending the funeral and prayer service.

The rebel group was founded in September 1995 to oppose the invasion of the southwestern Bay and Bakool regions by Mohamed Farah Aideed's Somali National Alliance (SNA).

[3][4] The polity's organization was thought to be a move to show the disaffection of the RRA with the nascent Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government, as well as an act to counter the influence of the Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) in the same regions.

[6] The feuding leaders of the RRA were eventually reconciled and, though conflicts periodically erupted thereafter, all joined the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) at its formation.