| Abdiqasim Salad Hassan عبدي قاسم صلاد حسن Cabdiqaasim Salaad Xasan |
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|---|---|
| President of Somalia | |
| In office August 27, 2000 – October 14, 2004 |
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| Prime Minister | Ali Khalif Galaydh Osman Jama Ali Hassan Abshir Farah Muhammad Abdi Yusuf |
| Preceded by | Hussein Mohamed Farrah |
| Succeeded by | Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1941 Galdogob |
| Alma mater | Lomonosov Moscow State University |
| Religion | Islam |
Dr Abdiqasim Salad Hassan (Somali: Cabdiqaasim Salaad Xasan,[1] Arabic: عبدي قاسم صلاد حسن) (born 1941) is a prominent Somali politician. He was President of Somalia from 2001 to 2004, and previously served as Interior Minister and Finance Minister in the government of Mohamed Siad Barre.
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Hassan was born in the town of Gaddo in the north-central mudug province of Somalia. He pursued his post-secondary education in the USSR, graduating in 1965 from the Biology Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University.[2]
He is from the Habar Gidir sub-clan of the Hawiye centered in Mogadishu, and has a brother named Abdi Salad Hassan who is also active in Somali politics.
A key founder of Somalia's Suhl (reconciliation) group of which former Foreign Minister Abdirahman Jama Barre was also a part,[3] Hassan has held several important positions in the Somali government, most notably as Siad Barre's last Interior Minister. As such, Hassan was responsible for all internal security agencies including the National Security Service (NSS), the Investigative Department of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party, the police, and the Deputy Prime Ministership.
After Barre's ouster in 1991 and the outbreak of the Somali Civil War, Hassan left for Cairo.
After 1991, Hassan's government controlled parts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with the rest of the country being under the control of various warlords.
In 2001, he participated in and won elections to become the President of Somalia. For the next three years, Hassan resided and worked in exile in Djibouti while still assuming leadership of the country, as Somalia was too unsafe for him to live in.
Shortly before the mandate of the Transitional National Government expired in August 2003, Hassan withdrew from talks aimed at forming a new government. Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah accused him of trying to make the talks fail to extend his time in office. This resulted in Farah's dismissal by Hassan. However, Hassan pledged to step aside to make way for a constitutionally-elected leader. Although he was a candidate for the presidency of the new national unity government, Hassan was not among the three candidates who passed the first round of voting. He left office peacefully several days after the election.
Since losing the presidential elections of 2004 to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Hassan has rallied for a safer Somalia. He takes part in numerous events in and around Somalia where he talks to his fellow countrymen about how they can change their nation for the better.
He now divides his time between Somalia, Egypt and Kenya.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hussein Mohamed Farrah |
President of Somalia 2000–2004 |
Succeeded by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed |
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