Ali Mahdi Muhammad
Ali Mahdi Muhammad | |
---|---|
علي مهدي محمد | |
4th President of Somalia | |
In office 26 January 1991 – 27 August 2000 | |
Preceded by | Mohamed Siad Barre |
Succeeded by | Abdiqasim Salad Hassan |
Personal details | |
Born | Jowhar, Somalia Governorate, Italian East Africa (modern-day Somalia) | 1 January 1939
Died | 10 March 2021 Nairobi, Kenya | (aged 82)
Nationality | Somali |
Political party | United Somali Congress |
Ali Mahdi Muhammad (
Muhammad rose to power after a coalition of armed opposition groups, including his own United Somali Congress, deposed longtime dictator Siad Barre. However, Muhammad was not able to exert his authority beyond parts of the capital, and instead vied for power with other faction leaders in the southern half of the country and with autonomous subnational entities in the north.[2]
Early life
Muhammad was born in 1939,[3] in Jowhar, an agricultural town in the southern Middle Shabelle region of Somalia (then a colony of Italy known as Italian Somaliland). His family hails from the Hawiye clan (Harti Abgaal Agoonyar).[3]
Career
United Somali Congress
Muhammad began his career in business, working as an independent Mogadishu-based entrepreneur and first entered politics in 1968, competing for a parliamentary seat in Mogadishu.[4]
After fallout from the unsuccessful Ogaden campaign of the late 1970s, the
By the late 1980s, Barre's regime had grown considerably unpopular. The authorities became increasingly totalitarian, and
President of Somalia
In 1991, a multi-phased international conference on Somalia was held in neighbouring
In 2000, Muhammad participated in another conference in Djibouti, where he lost a re-election bid to Barre's former Interior Minister Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. Muhammad gave a concession speech, indicating that he respected the outcome of the election and would support and work with the new President-elect.
Death
Ali Mahdi Muhammad died on 10 March 2021, in Nairobi, Kenya, after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya.[11]
References
- ^ "Somalia - The warlords make peace at last | International | The Economist". www.economist.com. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ a b "Somalia: Some key actors in the transitional process". IRIN. May 6, 2005. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0844407755. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
- ^ Whitaker's Almanack World Heads of State, 1998, Stationery Office: Roger East, page 222
- ^ ARR: Arab report and record, (Economic Features, ltd.: 1978), p.602.
- ^ Ahmed III, Abdul. "Brothers in Arms Part I" (PDF). WardheerNews. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 3, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ^ New People Media Centre, New people, Issues 94–105, (New People Media Centre: Comboni Missionaries, 2005).
- ^ Nina J. Fitzgerald, Somalia: issues, history, and bibliography, (Nova Publishers: 2002), p.25.
- ^ Library Information and Research Service, The Middle East: Abstracts and index, Volume 2, (Library Information and Research Service: 1999), p.327.
- ^ Paul Fricska, Szilard. "Harbinger of a New World Order? Humanitarian Intervention in Somalia" (PDF). University of British Columbia. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ "Former Somali president Ali Mahdi dies in Nairobi". Citizentv.co.ke. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.