Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal

Template:Short description Template:Patronymic name Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox officeholder Template:Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal sidebar Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal (Template:Langx; 15 August 1928 – 3 May 2002) was a Somaliland politician who served as the 2nd President of Somaliland from 1993 until his death in 2002, guiding the state through a period of stabilization and institution-building. Before the formation of the Somali Republic, Egal served briefly as the Prime Minster of State of Somaliland. He also served twice as the Prime Minister of the Somali Republic briefly in 1960 and again from 1967 to 1969. <ref name="Sqfirhbmsscf">Template:Cite web</ref>

Life and education

Egal was born in 1928, in Odweyne then a part of British Somaliland. He hailed from the Issa Musse sub-division of the Habar Awal sub-clan of the larger Isaaq clan.

He completed his primary, intermediate, and secondary education in former British Somaliland and then moved to the United Kingdom. Egal was married to Asha Saeed Abby, and together they had three sons and two daughters.

Career

Egal saluting the Somali flag at the occasion of Somaliland's independence ceremony on 26 June 1960

Prime Minister of the State of Somaliland

On 26 June 1960, Egal was Prime minister of the newly independent State of Somaliland, which merged five days later with the former Trust Territory of Somalia to form the Somali Republic on 1 July 1960.

Government work

He served as the first Somali Republic's minister of defence (1960–1961),<ref name="histdict">Template:Cite book</ref> Education Minister (1962–1963), Prime minister (1967–1969), and ambassador to India (1976–1978), although he was imprisoned twice under Barre dictatorship.

Prime Minister of the Somali Republic

In 1967, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was elected President and he appointed Egal as the Prime Minister.<ref name=Greenfield>Template:Cite news</ref> The ascension Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal to the role of Prime Minister was reportedly in large part financed by thousands of dollars in covert support to him and other pro-Western elements in the ruling Somali Youth League party by the American Central Intelligence Agency.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According the US State Department memo from 1968 Egal, "...speaks English fluently and, though a Muslim, enjoys a drink. He is a pragmatic African moderate and is pro-West."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While Egal had publicly claimed during 1968 that Somalia had no attention of changing course on the aim to unify all Somalis and reclaim "lost lands",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> he provoked popular anger in the country after later giving up claims to the Ogaden.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

He was still the prime minister and in the US, when Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was assassinated on 15 October 1969. Shortly afterward, the newly established Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) led by Major General Siad Barre, Brigadier General Mohamed Ainashe Gule, Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel seized power.<ref name="Adam">Adam, p.226</ref> The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,<ref>J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver, The Cambridge history of Africa, Volume 8, (Cambridge University Press: 1985), p.478.</ref><ref name="Grolierenc">The Encyclopedia Americana: complete in thirty volumes. Skin to Sumac, Volume 25, (Grolier: 1995), p.214.</ref> arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties,<ref name="Metz3">Template:Citation.</ref> dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.<ref name="Pjdlfw">Peter John de la Fosse Wiles, The New Communist Third World: an essay in political economy, (Taylor & Francis: 1982), p.279.</ref> Egal was among the politicians detained by the SRC for his prominent role in the nation's early government. He was eventually released and was named the Ambassador to India (1976-1978) before the Barre regime imprisoned him again on charges of conspiracy until 1985.

President of Somaliland

Egal managed to successfully disarm and rehabilitate rebel groups, stabilised the Economy of Somaliland, successfully managed to establish bilateral trade with foreign countries, introduce Somaliland new currency the Somaliland shilling, as well as the Somaliland passport and Somaliland national flag.

Throughout his term as president of the Republic of Somaliland, Egal's dedication to the secessionist cause was doubted and challenged by hardliners, particularly within the Somali National Movement (SNM), who believed that he still ultimately hoped to reconcile with other political actors in the rest of Somalia. In August 2001, Egal survived by one vote a motion tabled by several MPs charging him of half-heartedly pursuing separatism.<ref name="Arltd">Template:Cite book</ref>

In an interview with IRIN the same year, SNM leader Abdirahman Awale also said of Egal that "when he says he is for independence, it is for local consumption only. He tells the people here one thing, but in his speeches elsewhere he has clearly declared that Somalia will unite one day. He says we will talk to the southerners when they make their home clean and negotiate with them... He says one thing to the public, and a different thing to the international community."<ref name="Siiwsnm">Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

Egal died on 3 May 2002, in Pretoria, South Africa while undergoing surgery at a military hospital. His body was returned to Somaliland for a state funeral, whereafter his three sons laid him to rest next to his father, in accordance with his last wishes. Around 4,000 mourners reportedly attended his burial in Berbera, and the parliament declared seven days of mourning. Dahir Rayale Kahin was sworn in the next day as the new president.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• IRIN Interview with Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, President of Somaliland

Template:S-start Template:S-off Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-non |- Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end