# Mahamoud Harbi (Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax)

> Mahamoud Harbi Farah: French deputy for French Somaliland, head of its first Government Council 1957 to 1958, and campaigner for a Greater Somalia.

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

## Who was he?

Mahamoud Harbi Farah led the first elected local government of [French Somaliland](/en/relations/france/) and argued that the territory should join the [Somali Republic](/en/states/somali-republic-1960-1969/). He was Vice President of the Government Council, the territory's top local post, from July 1957 to December 1958 ([World Statesmen, Djibouti](https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Djibouti.html)). He also represented the colony in the French National Assembly ([French National Assembly, Harbi Farah Mahamoud](https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/(num_dept)/4892)).

## Early life

He was born in Ali Sabieh. Sources differ on the year: Wikipedia and the Assembly's record card give 1921, while the Assembly's dictionary of deputies gives 1916 ([Wikipedia, Mahmoud Harbi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Harbi); [French National Assembly](https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/(num_dept)/4892)). Wikipedia records that he worked as a waiter in Djibouti, served as a volunteer sailor in the French navy in the Second World War, and received the Croix de Guerre (Wikipedia).

## Trade unionist and deputy

After 1946 he worked in the port of Djibouti and became president of the Union of Somali Workers (Wikipedia). He sat on the territory's Representative Council and lost a contest for the French upper house in May 1952 (French National Assembly). On 2 January 1956 he won the territory's seat in the National Assembly as an independent, with 2,119 of 4,143 votes. In Paris he sat with the UDSR group and, in June 1956, proposed that a parliamentary commission be sent to study the territory's future (same source).

## Government Council and the 1958 vote

He became Vice President of the new Government Council, the head of the local government, in July 1957 ([World Statesmen](https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Djibouti.html)). His rival was [Hassan Gouled Aptidon](/en/people/hassan-gouled-aptidon/). In the referendum of September 1958 the territory voted to stay with France; Harbi had campaigned for joining a united Somalia (Wikipedia). After the November 1958 elections Gouled replaced him at the head of the council in December 1958, and in April 1959 Gouled also took his seat in the National Assembly ([World Statesmen](https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Djibouti.html); [French National Assembly](https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/(num_dept)/4892)).

## Exile and death

Harbi moved to Mogadishu and spoke on Somali radio in favour of uniting all Somalis (Wikipedia). He died in a plane crash in 1960. Wikipedia gives the date as 29 September 1960, when United Arab Airlines Flight 738 from Geneva to Cairo crashed into the sea off Italy with all 21 people on board; the French Assembly's dictionary says March 1960 (Wikipedia; French National Assembly).

## Offices held

- Member of the French National Assembly for French Somaliland, 1956 to 1959
- Vice President of the Government Council of French Somaliland, July 1957 to December 1958. See [Presidents and Prime Ministers of Djibouti](/en/institutions/leaders-of-djibouti/).

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