Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar (, ) is a Somali politician and diplomat. He twice served as the
Foreign Minister
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 relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
of
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
.
Biography
He is the elder son of businessman Abdullahi Omaar. He also has three younger siblings: one of his sisters, Raqiya Omaar, is a human rights advocate, and his younger brother
Rageh Omaar
Rageh Omaar (; ; ; born 19 July 1967) is a Somali-born British journalist and writer. He was a BBC world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting from Iraq. In September 2006, he moved to a new post at Al Jazeera English, where he ...
is a journalist. His family was based in
Hargeisa
Hargeisa ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a ''List of states with limited recognition, de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also th ...
.
Omaar was educated at a boarding school in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
before graduating from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
,
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
.
Political career
Omaar served as one of the
Foreign Ministers of Somalia
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
having been appointed to the office on 20 February 2009 by then
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
,
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (; , ) (born 18 June 1960), popularly known as Omar Sharmarke, is a Somali diplomat and politician. From 2009 to 2010, he was the Prime Minister of Somalia. He subsequently briefly served as Somalia
Somalia, ...
.
After working in various other governmental posts, on 12 November 2010, Omaar was re-appointed Foreign Minister in addition to one of several Deputy Prime Ministers by the new Somali Premier,
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (, ; born March 11, 1962), also known as Farmaajo, is a Somali politician who served as president of Somalia from 2017 to 2022. He was Prime Minister of Somalia, prime minister of Somalia for six months, from Novembe ...
.Somali PM unveils leaner cabinet /ref>
Starting August 2011,
Mohamed Mohamud Ibrahim
Mohamed Mohamud Ibrahim , CIA Factbook, August 2011 (, ) (born 1946Abdullahi Haji Hassan succeeded Omaar as the new Foreign Minister.Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers for Foreign Affairs
Puntland
Puntland is an autonomous state that considers itself to be part of Somalia, despite not accepting the legitimacy of Somalia's current governing administration. It was formed in 1998, and was a federal member state of Somalia from its fou ...
and
Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
supported Omaar’s bid to become
Prime Minister of Somalia
The prime minister of Somalia () is the head of government of Somalia. There have been 22 official prime ministers since the office was created in 1956. The first prime minister was Abdullahi Issa, who served prior to independence in the Trus ...
in late 2013.
See also
*
Rageh Omaar
Rageh Omaar (; ; ; born 19 July 1967) is a Somali-born British journalist and writer. He was a BBC world affairs correspondent, where he made his name reporting from Iraq. In September 2006, he moved to a new post at Al Jazeera English, where he ...