# Ali Sheikh Ahmed (Cali Sheekh Axmed)

> Ali Sheikh Ahmed: co-founder and first president of Mogadishu University (1997).

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/ali-sheikh-ahmed/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who is he?

Dr Ali Sheikh Ahmed Abubakar is a Somali scholar who co-founded [Mogadishu University](/en/institutions/main-universities/) and served as its first president ([Wikipedia, Ali Sheikh Ahmed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Sheikh_Ahmed)).

## Education

He finished secondary school in Mogadishu in 1972 and won a Saudi scholarship to the Islamic University of Madinah, where he earned his BA, MA and PhD between 1973 and 1983 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Sheikh_Ahmed)). He lectured at King Saud University in Riyadh from 1983 to 1992 (same source). He has written on Islam in the Horn of Africa, education, reconciliation and state building (same source).

## Mogadishu University

In 1992 he moved back to Mogadishu to help restore schools and universities ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Sheikh_Ahmed)). In 1997 he co-founded Mogadishu University, the first higher education institution set up after the state collapsed, and became its first president (same source). In 2017 he founded the East African Association for Research and Development, which he leads (same source).

## Public role

He was one of five founders of the Al-Islah Islamic movement in 1978, which took part in the Arta peace conference in Djibouti in 2000 (same source). He also sat on the Somali Civic Forum reconciliation panel formed in 2004 (same source).

## In short

A scholar who returned to Mogadishu in 1992 and co-founded its first post-war university.

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.