Mayor of Mogadishu
The Mayor of Mogadishu is head of the executive branch of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces laws within the city. The current mayor is Omar Muhamoud Finnish, who was appointed on 22 August 2019 and succeeded the Martyr Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman, who was killed on 1 August 2019 due to a suicide bombing occurred 24 July 2019 inside the mayor's office.
The mayor's office is located in , which was recently renovated after years of abandonment and decay during the Somali Civil War. The mayor is not elected, but is appointed by the President of Somalia. The mayor also holds the title of Governor of Benaadir, an administrative region whose territory is coextensive with the city of Mogadishu.
History of the office[]
The first mayor of Mogadishu was , an Italian expatriate who was appointed by General Rodolfo Graziani, the Governor of Italian Somaliland. Beginning in 1953 with the appointment of , the office of mayor has been held by native Somalis. After Somalian independence from Italy in 1960, the mayor has been appointed by the President of Somalia.
List of mayors[]
Colonial mayors[]
The following mayors of Mogadishu were appointed by the Governor of Italian Somaliland. From 1941 to 1949, resulting from World War II, the British occupied the territory and appointed the mayors, who remained Italians. Beginning in 1953, native Somalis were appointed to the office.
# | Mayor | Term | Governor |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 December 1936 – 15 December 1937 | Rodolfo Graziani
Ruggiero Santini | |
2 | 15 December 1937 – 1 March 1937 | ||
3 | Dr. Sicar | 1 March 1937 – 3 June 1937 | |
4 | 3 June 1937 – 1937 | ||
5 | 1937 – December 1938 | ||
6 | December 1938 – February 1941 | ||
Gustavo Pesenti | |||
7 | February 1941 – April 1950 | Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith
| |
Giovanni Fornari | |||
8 | April 1950 – June 1950 | ||
9 | June 1950 – November 1953 | ||
10 | November 1953 – 1953 | ||
11 | 1956–1960 |
|
Post-independence mayors[]
Since Somalia's independence on 1 July 1960, mayors of Mogadishu have been appointed by the President of Somalia:
# | Image | Mayor | Term | Party | President |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1960 – August 1962 | Somali Youth League | Aden Abdullah Osman Daar | ||
14 | August 1962 – September 1963 | Somali Youth League | |||
15 | September 1963 – 1965 | Somali Youth League | |||
16 | 1965 – February 1966 | Somali Youth League | |||
17 | 1966 – 1970 | Somali Youth League | Abdirashid Ali Shermarke | ||
18 | 20 November 1970 – 8 December 1970 | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | Siad Barre | ||
19 | 8 December 1970 – 1973[1] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
20 | Hassan Abshir Farah | 28 March 1973 – February 1976[citation needed] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | ||
21 | February 1976 – May 1981[citation needed] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
22 | May 1981 – 1982 | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
23 | Hassan Abshir Farah | 1982–1987[citation needed] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | ||
24 | 1987 – 16 January 1990[2][3] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
25 | 16 January 1990 – 18 October 1990[3] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
26 | 18 October 1990 – 26 January 1991[4] | Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party | |||
27 | Omar Hashi Aden | 1992–1994 | United Somali Congress | Ali Mahdi Muhammad | |
28 | 1994 | United Somali Congress | |||
29 | 2000– 2004[5] | United Somali Congress | |||
Ali Mahdi Muhammad | |||||
30 | c. June 2005[6] | Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed | |||
31 | Adde Gabow | 15 January 2007 – May 2007 | |||
32 | Mohamed Omar Habeb | May 2007 – 30 July 2008 | |||
– | 2008 – 2010 (acting) | Adan Mohamed Nuur Madobe | |||
33 | Mohamed Nur | 2010 – 27 February 2014 | Justice and Communist Party | Sharif Sheikh Ahmed | |
34 | Hassan Mohamed Hussein | 27 February 2014 – November 2015 | Independent | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud | |
35 | Yusuf Hussein Jimaale | November 2015 – 5 April 2017 | Peace and Development Party | ||
36 | Thabit Abdi Mohammed | 15 April 2017 – 19 January 2018 | Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed | ||
37 | Abdirahman Omar Osman | 20 January 2018 – 1 August 2019 | Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed | ||
38 | Omar Muhamoud Finnish | 22 August 2019 – Incumbent | Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed |
Vice mayors[]
The mayor of Mogadishu is assisted by a vice mayor or deputy mayor. The current vice mayor is .
Notable former vice mayors[]
- Hassan Haji Mohamoud (1982–1991)
Living former mayors[]
This list is incomplete; you can help by . (August 2017) |
Living former mayors of Mogadishu include: Hassan Mohamed Hussein, Hassan Abshir Farah, Yusuf Hussein Jimaale, and Mohamed Nur.
In popular culture[]
Towards the end of the Somali Rebellion, President Siad Barre was sometimes mockingly referred to by many as the "Mayor of Mogadishu," based on the fact that Barre controlled little territory outside the capital.[7] By 1989, when the United Somali Congress had captured most surrounding towns and villages, this had become a common saying in Somalia, and on 29 September 1990, the British newspaper The Economist used the phrase in reference to Barre.[8]
During the early 1990s, after the overthrow of the Siad regime and during the Somali famine, Dan Eldon, a British photojournalist who covered the famine and conflict, became popular among Mogadishans that he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Mogadishu."[9][10]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Abukar, Hassan (2015-05-26). Mogadishu Memoir. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781504911559.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Somalia: Information on the mayor of Mogadishu during 1990-1992 and whether the city of Mogadishu issued identity cards and the reasons behind their issuance". Refworld. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Somalia: Update to SOM27549 of 27 August 1997 on place of issue of Somali birth certificates; update to SOM12922.E of 27 January 1993 on the names of the mayors of Mogadishu in 1988 and 1990". Refworld. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
- ^ Kapteijns, Lidwien (2012-12-18). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 133. ISBN 0812207580.
- ^ Barise, Hassan (2001-09-03). "Taxman returns to Mogadishu". BBC News.
- ^ "WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY in Mogadishu, Mogadishu University and SCWE". www.somwe.com. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
- ^ Harper, Mary (2012-02-09). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781780321059.
- ^ Harper, Mary (2012-02-09). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 9781780321059.
- ^ "Young photographer exposed Somalia's horrors". CNN. 1997-12-07. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
- ^ Lorch, Donatella (1993-08-22). "Endpaper/Life and Times; Four Friends". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
- Mayors of places in Somalia
- Lists of mayors
- 1936 establishments in the Italian Empire
- Mogadishu