Ali Aref Bourhan ( ar, علي عارف برهان) (born 1934 in

Tadjoura Tadjoura ( aa, Tagórri; ar, تاجوراء ''Tağūrah''; so, Tajuura) is one of the oldest towns in Djibouti and the capital of the Tadjourah Region. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after th ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Re ...

) is a

an politician.

Early years

Bourhan was born in 1934 in the coastal city of

, situated in eastern present-day

. He hailed from a prominent local

Afar Afar may refer to: Peoples and languages *Afar language, an East Cushitic language *Afar people, an ethnic group of Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia Places Horn of Africa *Afar Desert or Danakil Desert, a desert in Ethiopia *Afar Region, a region ...

family, the Abourbakers. He also has a

Gadabursi The Gadabuursi (Somali: ''Gadabuursi'', Arabic: جادابورسي), also known as ''Samaroon'' (Arabic: ''قبيلة سَمَرُون)'', is a northern Somali clan, a sub-division of the Dir clan family. The Gadabuursi are geographically sp ...

grandmother from

Zeila Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila (or Hawilah) with the Bib ...

. As a young man in the 1950s, Bourhan began his professional career as a teacher. He also ran the town's Afar and

Somali Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Soma ...

youth club.

Political career

Bourhan entered politics under the aegis of Ibrahim Sultan, the then Sultan of Tadjoura. Through the latter, he was introduced to

Mahmoud Harbi Mahamoud Harbi Farah ( ar, محمود الحربي, so, Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax) (1921 – 29 September 1960) was a Djiboutian politician of Somali ethnicity. A pan-Somalist, he was the Vice President of the Government Council of French Soma ...

, the Vice President of the Government Council of French Somaliland and a former comrade of the Sultan in the

French army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

campaign. Bourhan would subsequently serve in the territory's representative council as a ''Harbist'' politician, strongly supporting Harbi's independence-oriented platform. In 1958, Harbi disappeared from the local political scene, having been exiled to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

by the French authorities.United States Joint Publications Research Service, ''Translations on Sub-Saharan Africa'', Issues 464-492, (1966), p.24. He died in a plane crash two years later under mysterious circumstances.Barrington, Lowell, ''After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States'', (University of Michigan Press: 2006), p.115 In 1960, with the fall of the ruling Dini administration, Bourhan assumed the seat of Vice President of the Government Council of French Somaliland, representing the UNI party. He would hold that position until 1966. In July of the following year, he was elected President of the Government Council of the

French Territory of the Afars and the Issas The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (FTAI; french: Territoire français des Afars et des Issas) was the name given to present-day Djibouti between 1967 and 1977, while it was still an overseas territory of France. The area was former ...

. Bourhan served in that capacity until July 29, 1976, the eve of Djibouti's independence. He was succeeded in office by Abdallah Mohamed Kamil.

Personal life

He tied the knor May 15, 1971 in Carcassonne with Régine Soulé. They divorced in 1979. Ali Aref married second time on May 14, 2014 in Kempeski Palace with a young Djiboutian lady, Ms. Aref Filsane.

Children

From his first marriage, he was blessed with a son named Karim Aref Bourhan who was born on February 7, 1979.

Notes

References

Jacques Foccart et Ali Aref
(in French)

External links

Jacques Foccart et Ali Aref
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourhan, Ali Aref Afar people 1934 births Djiboutian independence activists Living people