Somalis abroad in public life

Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah (Cabdulqaadir Gabeyre Faarax)

Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah (1955 to 21 September 2015) was a Somali-born Polish historian and social activist. In the 1990s he became the first African to receive refugee status in post-communist Poland, co-founded the Foundation for Somalia in 2007 to help migrants of all origins, and in 2015 announced a run for Somalia's presidency. He was killed in a car bomb attack in Mogadishu that September.

Last checked 2026-11-12 1 source Reading time: 1 min

Abdulcadir Gabeire FarahCabdulqaadir Gabeyre Faarax · Abdulkadir Gabeire Farah

Lived
1955 to 2015-09-21
Era
Toward independence, 1920 to 1960; The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012; Who holds power, 2012 to now
Sources
1 sources

Who was he?

Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah was a Somali-born Polish historian and social activist (Wikipedia, Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah). He graduated from Omdurman University in Sudan and spoke Arabic, English, Polish, Somali and Swahili (same source). He also lectured at a college in Yemen (same source).

Life in Poland

He moved to Poland in the 1990s and was the first African to receive refugee status there after 1989 (Wikipedia). He learned Polish and became active in community life (same source). In 2007 he co-founded the Foundation for Somalia with Jolanta Opalińska, and became its president in 2010 (same source). The foundation raised money for a hospital in Adado and a children's home, and ran language and job courses for migrants of every origin in Poland (same source). He became a Polish citizen in 2014 (same source).

Death

In May 2015 he announced he would stand for President of Somalia in 2016, and returned to Mogadishu to prepare (Wikipedia). On 21 September 2015 he was killed in a car bomb attack near the presidential palace that killed at least eleven people; al-Shabaab was blamed (same source).

In short

A Somali refugee who became a leading migrant advocate in Poland and was killed while preparing a presidential bid.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah · en.wikipedia.org

Abdulcadir Gabeire FarahCabdulqaadir Gabeyre Faarax · Abdulkadir Gabeire Farah

Lived
1955 to 2015-09-21
Era
Toward independence, 1920 to 1960; The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012; Who holds power, 2012 to now
Sources
1 sources

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