| Abdirahman Mohamud Farole عبد الرحمن محمد |
|
|---|---|
| President of Puntland | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 11, 2009 |
|
| Vice President | Abdisamad Ali Shire |
| Preceded by | Mohamud Muse Hersi Adde |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 June 1945 Nugaal, Somalia |
| Religion | Islam |
Abdirahman Mohamud Farole (Somali: Cabdiraxmaan Maxamuud Faroole, Arabic: عبد الرحمن محمد) (born June 6, 1945) is a Somali politician. He is the fourth and current President of Puntland.
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Farole was born in the Nugaal region of Somalia in 1945. He first pursued his post-secondary education locally, earning a Diploma of Public Health in 1964 from the Scuola Professionale Sanitaria in Mogadishu, the nation's capital. The following year, he earned a Diploma in Statistics from the International Statistical Institute of Beirut in Lebanon. In 1985, Farole completed a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Commerce from the Somali National University in Mogadishu. He followed that five years later with a Master of Business Administration (Major in Financial Management) from a joint partnership between the Somali National University-SOMTAD and the State University of New York at Albany. In 2005, he added to his resume a Bachelor of Arts (Major in Politics) from La Trobe University in Australia.[1]
Farole is fluent in Somali, Arabic, Italian and English. In a professional capacity, he worked as a senior officer/manager of major branches in Hargeisa and Berbera, and as a senior auditor/divisional manager of foreign and international departments at the Central Bank of Somalia. From 1970 to 1986, he was also director general at the Commercial & Savings Bank.[1]
Top governmental positions Farole has held in the past include a stint as Finance Minister of the northeastern Puntland province of Somalia under the region's first president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, and as governor of the Nugaal region in the 1990s.[2][3] He later served as Planning Minister in the regional government of Mohamud "Adde" Muse Hersi,[2] the former president of Puntland. After a falling out with Muse over a deal with the Australian oil company, Range Resources, Farole spent much of the past decade in suburban Melbourne, Australia, where he was a Ph.D. candidate in history at La Trobe University.[4][5] His dissertation was on the rebuilding of banks and financial institutions after armed conflict.[5]
After having reportedly turned down requests from his fellow countrymen to run for office in the past, and with the assurance of support from various political factions,[4] Farole returned to Somalia from Australia to present himself as a candidate in the Puntland region's 2008-2009 presidential elections.[5] In January 2009, he defeated the nine other candidates, including incumbent President Muse, to become the fourth President of Puntland.[5][6] Despite weeks of political tension prior to the vote, the election itself was also reportedly peaceful, prompting one U.S.-based observer to suggest that the "success of the Puntland elections can begin to provide a model for the whole of Somalia."[6] In his election victory speech, Farole vowed to tackle head-on the pervasive piracy problem off of the Somali coast, including cracking down on local authorities who have reportedly collaborated with pirates in return for a share of the profits.[5]
In an effort to improve transparency, the new president also issued a first-ever "100 Days in Office report".[7] The regional parliament in Puntland unanimously passed the 2009 budget after six days of negotiations. In addition, Farole has since revisited Puntland's oil deal with Range Resources, delivering a policy update in which he stated, among other things, that while he acknowledges the contracts that had already been signed under a great deal of controversy, it is important to "make sure that they are benefiting the people and are within the laws of Puntland." Range Resources, for its part, responded by indicating that it "looks forward to establishing a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with the new Puntland government and its president".[8]
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