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Paris,
France, January 02, 2010 (SL Times) – Somaliland Foreign Representative
in France, Mohamud Salah Nur Fagadhe, passed away in Paris, France this
week. Mr Fagadhe underwent surgery which lasted for five hours in
October this year. He was a veteran politician who held various
positions, the last one being Somaliland representative in France to
which he was appointed in 2007. He left behind a wife and a nine year
old daughter. He is the third minister in Somaliland to pass away this
month.
Here is a summary of his life and career which he gave to the BBC Somali
Service’s Hargeysa correspondent Ahmed Saeed Ige in Dec.28, 2009.
I was born in Jidali, Sanag region. My father was a taxi driver in Aden.
He told my mom to send one of the kids. I graduated from St Joseph high
school in Aden or what used to be called al-Badari school. I started
working with the city government and the trade Unions in Aden. Aden at
the time was the third busiest port in the world. 73 ships used to dock
in Aden in the 1950s. Jamal Abd al-Nasir's Pan-Arab movement was in full
swing.. The Somali movement about the lands that
were given to Ethiopia was active. Egypt took many Somali students on
scholarship, although we in the Somali National League (SNL) had no
direct links with Egypt. Our Secretary General Muhammad Ibrahim Egal was
given a three months jail sentence in Aden. He was only released to
attend his father’s funeral. His father was highly respected by the
British and was an MBE (Member of the British Empire).
I came back [to Somaliland] one month after the election in May 1960.
The SNL disappeared after the union. The police closed the khayriya. We
Started the workers movement in Hargeysa in the location of the Khayriya.
I was the Secretary General of the Somali Federation of Labor. I visited
Mogadishu for the first time in 1963.
We created here in Hargeysa the Somali Democratic Union which was an
amalgamation of the SNL, USP and Great. The first conference of the SDU
was in the khayriya the former location of the SNL (the place that was
closed). We held the SDU’s 1964 conference in Odwyene and its slogan was
oodi ab ka wayn. The SDU won 15 parliamentary seats in 1964. We told the
people Somalilanders should unite but the unity did not materialize.
I worked at the ministry of labor during Abdirizaq’s time, attended
international conferences. I got a scholarship to Holland. I was in
Holland 1966-69 and received a masters of social science degree there. I
came back became, worked as a teacher in ENTEC for 2 months, then went
to the ministry of labor for 2 years, then went to presidency. After
that I worked abroad for the International Labor Organization (ILO), a
total of 10 years (2 years in Cairo, then the Arab League's office in
Geneva, then Baghdad).
I came back to Mogadishu in 1984. I did not become part of government. I
entered politics, became one of the founders of the Manifesto group, was
jailed for 2 months by Siyad Barre in Mogadishu. But the city rose in
opposition to our jailing. We were brought to trial, but people rose
against it, and the court (Maxkamadi Badbaadada) let us go, however some
of our colleagues in our peace efforts such as Xaashi Weheliye and Musa
Boqor died.
I came back here [to Somaliland] and contributed to the peace efforts.
We went to Haud for months to stop the conflicts between our communities
and the SNM. When we came here, already there was peace between SNM and
our communities in 1991 and the delegation that came from Las Anod was
warmly welcomed.
I was for a period of 7 years, or close to eight years, Somaliland’s
foreign minister under Egal, then I got sick, entered a hospital and I
was told to stop working.
I was one of the founders of Kulmiye party and I became the vice
chairman of Kulmiye.
Then president [Dahir Rayale Kahin] said we need your experience and
made me Somaliland representative in France. I think that is enough,
isn’t it?
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