Saturday, June 16, 2007

Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, the first President of Somalia died last week from natural causes in a Nairobi hospital. He was 99.

Born in 1908 in Beledweyne, Hiiraan region in the Italian Somaliland, Osman was elected as the first President of Somalia in 1960 and served till 1967, when he was he was defeated by Abdirashid Ali Shermarke.

He spent his later years in Janale in southern Somalia and in May 2007 it was erroneously reported that he died in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. It was later clarified, however, that he was on life support, in critical condition, but had not yet died.

The Transitional Federal Government declared 21 days of mourning and said that he would receive a state funeral. It also voted to rename Mogadishu International Airport after him.

Osman is survived by eight children.





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