Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur

For the executed Somali politician, see Abdirahman Ahmed

HE Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur
عبد الرحمن أحمد علي الطور
1st President of Somaliland
In office
28 May 1991 – 16 May 1993
Vice President Hassan Isse Jama
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal
2nd Vice President of Somaliland[1]
In office
May 1993 – May 1995
Preceded by Hassan Isse Jama
Succeeded by Abdirahman Aw Ali Farrah
Personal details
Born 1931
Burao, British Somaliland
Died 8 November 2003 [2]
London, United Kingdom[3]

Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur (Somali: Cabdiraxmaan Axmed Cali Tuur, Arabic: عبد الرحمن أحمد علي الطور‎) (var. "Tur", "Tour", meaning "Hunchback"[4]) (1931-2003) was a Somali politician. He was the first President of Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia.

Biography

Tuur was born in 1931 in Burao, then a part of the British Somaliland protectorate. He hailed from the Garhajis sub clan of the Isaaq [5]

In a professional capacity, Tuur worked as a government official and diplomat in Somalia's post-independence government. He later became the Chairman of the Somali National Movement (SNM), a guerilla force mainly drawn from his Isaaq clan, which was attempting to topple former President of Somalia Siad Barre's military regime. Although the SNM at its inception had a unionist constitution, it eventually began to pursue a separatist agenda, looking to secede from the rest of Somalia. Under Tuur's leadership, the local administration declared the northwestern Somali territories independent on 18 May 1991. He then became the newly established Somaliland polity’s first President, but subsequently renounced the separatist platform in 1994. Tuur concurrently began instead to publicly seek and advocate reconciliation with the rest of Somalia under a power-sharing federal system of governance.[6] In doing so, he also represented the interests of many other Isaaq members, who were against secession; particularly those within his own sub-clan.[5] Tuur additionally lent some support to the UNOSOM peace-building mission in the southern regions. This alienated him from Somaliland's succeeding government as well as certain former followers.[7]

When support for Tuur in southern Somalia failed to materialise, he was exiled to London UK for almost a decade, before returning to Somaliland on 10 February 2003, 9 months before his death on 8 November 2003.

Death

Tuur died on 8 November 2003 in London, UK. and buried in Burao[8]

Notes

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=wWv4dHWjDpUC
  2. ↑ http://hadhwanaagnews.ca/detail.aspx?id=157079
  3. ↑ http://hadhwanaagnews.ca/detail.aspx?id=157079
  4. ↑ Issue Paper: SOMALIA, UPDATE ON THE SITUATION IN THE NORTH (SOMALILAND), Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, January 1995
  5. 1 2 Diedrich Westermann, Edwin William Smith, Cyril Daryll Forde (2009). Africa, Volume 79, Issues 1-4. Oxford University Press. p. 259.
  6. ↑ Somaliland’s Quest for International Recognition and the HBM-SSC Factor Archived 2012-05-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Somaliland and Peace in the Horn of Africa: A Situation Report and Analysis Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine., M. Bryden, UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Drafted 13 November 1995. Updated/edited version Published in African Security Review Vol 13 No 2, 2004 Archived June 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine..
  8. ↑ http://hadhwanaagnews.ca/detail.aspx?id=157079

References

Political offices
New title President of Somaliland
1991 – 1993		 Succeeded by
Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal
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