Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (, ; born 24 April 1956), colloquially known as Irro (), is a Somaliland politician and diplomat who has been the 6th and current President of Somaliland since 12 December 2024. Abdirahman served as speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives during most of the first elected parliament. He was announced as the presidential nominee in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election for the Waddani Party.

Career

Early career

Professionally, Abdirahman worked at the Settlement Development Agency (Dan-wadaagaha) in different parts of Somalia. From 1981, he took on a position in the foreign service of the

Somali Democratic Republic The Somali Democratic Republic (; , ; ) was a socialist state in Somalia that existed from 1969 to 1991. Established in October 1969, the Somali Democratic Republic emerged following a 1969 Somali coup d'état, coup d'état led by Major General ...

. Abdirahman also served in the Somali Embassy as the first consular in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, which covered the entire

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1991, he was re-appointed as Somalia's acting Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In this capacity, Abdirahman assisted the many Somali expatriates who had left Somalia following outbreak of the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. He later relocated to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 1996 to join his family, who had moved there a few years prior, and subsequently received Finnish citizenship.

UCID Party

In 2005, Abdirahman was elected in the 2005 Somaliland parliamentary election to represent the Justice and Welfare Party (UCID) in Sahil. The UCID political party was the first opposition party formally formed in Somaliland, Somalia after the ruling United Peoples' Democratic Party (UDUB), while other politicians generally focused their opposition against the region's incumbent Egal administration (AHN). UCID also supported the referendum which put the foundation for the multi-party system, a process which many politicians have opposed and saw favouring Egal (AHN).

2005 Somaliland parliamentary election

Somaliland held elections to an 82-member House of Representatives on 29 September 2005. It was the first multi-party parliamentary election conducted in Somaliland since 1991, when the civil war began.

2017 Somaliland presidential election

The 2017 Somaliland presidential election was the third direct presidential election since 2003, held nominally on 13 November 2017. The result was a victory for ruling Kulmiye party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi, who received 55% of the vote. Abdirahman received 41% of the vote.

2024 Somaliland presidential election

Abdirahman was elected President of Somaliland in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election as the candidate of the Waddani Party. He won nearly 64% of the vote, while incumbent president Muse Bihi Abdi received 35%. He was inaugurated on 12 December 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullahi, Abdirahman Mohamed Living people Speakers of the House of Representatives (Somaliland) Presidents of Somaliland 1956 births People from Hargeisa Somalian emigrants to Finland Finnish people of Somali descent Naturalized citizens of Finland