Abdirashid Ali Shermarke

Abdirashid Ali Shermarke , German also Abdi Raschid Ali Schermarke ( Somali Cabdirashiid Cali Sharma'arke , Arabic عبد الرشيد علي شرماركي Abd ar-Raschid Ali Schirmarki , * 1919 in Harardheere , Hobyo , Somalia ; † October 15, 1969 ) was the first prime minister and second president of Somalia.

Life

Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was born in Hobyo (Obbia) in 1919, which was then part of Italian Somaliland . His mother belonged to the Somali clan of the Hawiye . Shermarke attended Koran schools and finished his basic education in 1936. He became a trader, later he worked in the civil service of the Italian colonial administration.

Immediately after its founding in 1943, Shermarke joined the Somali Youth League (SYL), the first political party in Somalia. In 1944 he worked in the administration of the British who had occupied the Italian colony in the context of the Second World War. After completing his higher education in 1953, he studied political science at the University of La Sapienza in Rome .

Political career

After his return from Italy in 1959, Shermarke was elected to the legislative assembly of the now Italian trust territory of Italian Somaliland. After the joint independence of Italian and British Somaliland and their unification to form the state of Somalia, Aden Abdullah Osman Daar of the SYL became the country's first president. He made Shermarke the first head of government and prime minister of a coalition government of various parties.

In the dispute over foreign policy, which Daar leaned more towards the Soviet Union and Shermarke more towards non- alignment, Daar initially removed Shermarke in 1964, and Abdirizak Haji Hussein became the new prime minister . 1964-67 he was responsible for a border war with the then pro-western Ethiopia around the Somali-inhabited region of Ogaden . But in 1967 ex-Prime Minister Shermarke overthrew his president with the help of a coup in parliament that was forced by the pro-Western faction in the armed forces otherwise trained by Soviet military advisers . He became the new president himself, he appointed Mohammed Haji Ibrahim Egal as the new prime minister, and Mohammed Siad Barre was the new defense minister .

On October 15, 1969, Shermarke was murdered by a bodyguard - according to other reports by a police officer - whereupon the pro-Soviet military took power and made Siad Barre the new president.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Der Spiegel 43/1969