Ali Said Abdella (September 1949 – August 28, 2005) was an

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

n rebel commander, politician and diplomat, who at the time of his death was serving as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

of Eritrea. Ali Said was the son of a local sheik. He was of Afar ethnic origin. As a young man, he joined the

Eritrean Liberation Front The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF; ; ; ), colloquially known as Jebha, was the main Eritrean War of Independence, independence movement in Eritrea Province, Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the ear ...

, a rebel group which was fighting for Eritrean independence from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. He received medical and military training in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in 1965, after which he was known to lead a commando operation for hijacking and consequently burning the Ethiopian aeroplane in Karachi, Pakistan in 1969. Soon he returned to Eritrea where he was an active fighter. By the 1970s he had switched to Eritrea's other rebel group, the

Eritrean People's Liberation Front The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the Eritrean War of Independence, independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1 ...

Ed Harris
"Eritrean foreign minister and ex-rebel dies"
Reuters, August 28, 2005. and, in 1977, he became a member of the

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

of that organization. He was the commander of Nacfa front when the city was liberated in 1977."Eritrea: FM died of heart attack, autopsy"
, ''Eritrea Daily'', August 28, 2005. When Eritrea gained independence in the early 1990s, first from 1990-93 before Eritrean referendum was conducted, Ali Said served as a chief of military operations. Later in the new government, he became the first Minister of Internal Affairs. He was then appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry in February 1997. In October 2000, Ali Said was moved from his position as Minister of Trade and Industry to that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, switching jobs with

Haile Woldense Haile Woldense or Woldetensae () is an Eritrean politician. Woldense was born in 1946 and attended high school in Asmara, Eritrea. After graduation, he was accepted to the Addis Ababa University engineering program. There he met Isaias Afewerki a ...

. He was a fluent

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

speaker, and most of his overseas trips were to Middle Eastern countries. He also made an official visit to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in April 2005."Prepackaged War"
, ''Kommersant'', April 15, 2005. Ali Said died suddenly of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in his sleep at his home in Eritrea's capital,

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

, on August 28, 2005. The Eritrean government declared three days of public mourning for him. There have been numerous speculation that top government officials including the President killed Ali due to secret talks he had about creating an uprising in Asmara and for it to spread across the country. These speculations have yet be confirmed and no sources were provided to back up the claim. Ali Said was married and had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Said Abdella 1949 births 2005 deaths People from Northern Red Sea region Eritrean diplomats People's Front for Democracy and Justice politicians Foreign ministers of Eritrea Government ministers of Eritrea