Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur (, ) (var. "Tur", "Tour", meaning "Hunchback") (November 6, 1931 - November 8, 2003) was a Somali politician who served as the first President of Somaliland from 1991 to 1993. Tuur previously served as the Chairman of the

Somali National Movement The Somali National Movement (, ) was one of the first and most important Guerrilla warfare, organized guerilla groups and Mujahideen groups that opposed the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 1990s, as well as being the main anti-government f ...

from 1990 to 1991. He also served as the Vice President of Somaliland from 1993 to 1995.

Biography

Tuur was born on November 6, 1931, in

Burao Burao, also spelt Bur'o or Bur'ao (; , , ), is the capital of the Togdheer region and the second largest city in Somaliland. Burao was the site of the Somaliland Declaration of Independence, declaration of an independent Somaliland on 18 May 19 ...

, then a part of the

British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...

Protectorate. He hailed from the Muse Arreh sub clan of the Habar Yoonis. He was one of the top students who graduated from the first Intermediate School in the British Somaliland Protectorate and was given a scholarship to

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

in 1948 to study at the renowned Hantoob Secondary School. In Hantoob, he met and befriended some of the future Sudanese leaders like Jaafar Nimeiry, Sadiq Al-Mahdi and Hassan Al-Turabi. Abdirahman excelled both in sports (especially football and track) and academic studies. He later received an additional scholarship to study at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. After successfully completing his university in the UK, Abdirahman returned and started his career as an Administrative Officer in Borama in 1956 and was elevated to the position of District Commissioner (DC) 3 years later (1959). In 1961 he became Governor of the Eastern Region (Burao) and then in 1964 the Governor of Western Region (Hargeisa). In that same year he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was appointed in the following diplomatic posts: *Sudan 1964-1968 and 1970-1971 Ambassador *Ethiopia 1972-1977 Ambassador *East Germany 1978-1981 Ambassador *UAE 1981-1983 Ambassador He later became the Chairman of the

(SNM), a guerilla force mainly drawn from his Isaaq clan, which was attempting to topple former President of Somalia

Siad Barre Mohammed Siad Barre (, Osmanya script: , ''Muhammad Ziād Barīy''; 6 October 1919 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the third president of Somalia from 21 October 1969 to 26 Janu ...

's military regime. Although the SNM at its inception had a unionist

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, it eventually began to pursue a separatist agenda, looking to secede from the rest of Somalia. Under Tuur's leadership, the local administration declared the northwestern Somali territories independent on 18 May 1991. He then became the newly established Somaliland's first President, but subsequently renounced the separatist platform in 1994. Tuur concurrently began instead to publicly seek and advocate reconciliation with the rest of Somalia under a power-sharing federal system of governance. In doing so, he also represented the interests of many other Isaaq members, who were against secession. Tuur additionally lent some support to the UNOSOM peace-building mission in the southern regions.Somaliland and Peace in the Horn of Africa: A Situation Report and Analysis
, M. Bryden, UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia Drafted 13 November 1995. Updated/edited versio

Death

Tuur died on November 8, 2003, at the age of 72 and was buried in

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

References

Sources

Somalia
- ''Worldstatesmen.com''
"Somaliland: The Other Somalia with No War"
Suliman Baldo in The Nation (Nairobi), 30 June 2006, The Nation (Nairobi)
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL'S REPORT, ABDIRAHMAN "TUUR", AND SOMALILAND
SOMALIA News Update, Vol 3, No 16, May 28, 1994. ISSN 1103-1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuur, Abdirahman Ahmed Ali 1931 births 2003 deaths Chairpersons of the Somali National Movement Vice presidents of Somaliland British Somaliland people of World War II People from Burao 20th-century presidents of Somaliland Alumni of the University of Exeter