Former Somalia president Ali Mahdi Muhammad has died in Kenya’s capital Nairobi at the age of 83. Officials in Mogadishu announced on Wednesday that he died in Nairobi after being hospitalised for Covid-19 complications.
Somalia Information ministry spokesperson Ismael Omar confirmed the death. Muhammad was appointed president of Somalia by loyalists of the United Somali Congress (USC) after deposing the late dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in January 1991. He served as the President from January 1991 to January 1997.
Somalia’s President Mohamed Farmaajo and several opposition leaders condoled with his family. Farmaajo announced a three-day national mourning period and stated that there will be a special committee to conduct his burial. He said the former leader will have a state funeral.
Former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in his expression stated that Ali Mahdi “played his part in saving our country during difficult times….May God give patience and faith to the Somali people and the family he left behind.”
Nairobi Hospital in the Upper hill area in Nairobi currently hosts East Africa luminaries including former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli reported receiving treatment for coronavirus, Kenya’s third President Emeritus Mwai Kibaki, and the former President of Somalia Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who has sadly just passed away.