Aden Abdulle Osman (Aadan Cabdulle Cismaan, Aden Adde)

Who was he?

Aden Abdulle Osman, known to Somalis as Aden Adde, was the first President of the Somali Republic. He held office from 1 July 1960 to 6 July 1967 (Wikipedia, Aden Adde). He is remembered most for one act. When he lost the presidential vote in 1967, he accepted the result and handed power to the winner.

Early life

He was born in Beledweyne, in the Hiiraan region, on 9 December 1908 (Wikipedia). He lost his parents young. His father had fought in the campaigns against Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (Castagno, Historical Dictionary of Somalia, 1975, "Aden Abdulla Osman").

In 1922 he entered the first elementary school opened at Baidoa. For five years he studied and worked as a domestic servant in Baidoa and Mogadishu. From 1928 to 1933 he was a medical assistant at the De Martino Hospital in Mogadishu. He then worked for the government as a typist and interpreter (Castagno 1975). He taught himself many subjects and spoke Somali, Arabic, Italian and English (Wikipedia).

The Somali Youth League

He joined the Somali Youth League in 1944. By 1946 he was secretary of its Beledweyne branch (Wikipedia). He served as the League's president in 1954, 1955 and 1958 (Castagno 1975).

In 1951 he joined the Territorial Council of the trust territory. He became its Vice President, the highest post a Somali could then hold (Castagno 1975). From 1956 to 1960 he was President of the Legislative Assembly (Castagno 1975).

President, 1960 to 1967

On 1 July 1960 he proclaimed the independence of the Somali Republic and the union of the trust territory in the south with the former British Somaliland in the north (Castagno 1975). He was elected the Republic's first President. He appointed Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as Prime Minister (Wikipedia, Abdirashid Shermarke).

His government's First Five Year Plan (1963 to 1967) focused on a few projects. These were the sugar factory at Jowhar, food processing, roads, and seaports at Kismaayo, Berbera and Mogadishu (Wikipedia). Somalia joined the Organisation of African Unity and the Non-Aligned Movement in these years.

The handover of 1967

In the 1967 presidential vote in parliament, his former Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Shermarke won. Aden Adde accepted the result. His term ended on 6 July 1967 (Wikipedia). Sources describe it as one of the first peaceful handovers of power by an African head of state after losing a vote.

Later life

After the army took power in October 1969, he was held at the presidential palace at Afgooye until April 1973 (Castagno 1975). He spent most of his later years on his farm at Jannaale, in Lower Shabelle. He died in hospital in Nairobi on 8 June 2007, aged 98 (Wikipedia). The government declared 21 days of mourning and a state funeral. It renamed Mogadishu's airport Aden Adde International Airport in his honour (same source).

In short

The first President of Somalia, from 1960 to 1967. He handed over office after losing the 1967 presidential vote in parliament.