Abdullahi Issa

Abdullahi Issa Mohamud (Somali: Cabdullaahi Ciise Maxamuud, Arabic: عبد الله عيسى محمد‎ (b. 1921 – d. March 1988) was a Somali politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Somalia during the trusteeship period, serving from February 29, 1956 to July 1, 1960.

Biography

Issa was born in 1921 in the southern town of Afgooye. He hailed from the Sa'ad Habar Gidir clan, and his mother was from the Marehan clan. Issa's father died a couple of months after his birth. His mother subsequently moved the family to Mogadishu.

Nicknamed "Bidaar", Issa frequented an Italian primary institution in the capital, as well as a local Qur'anic school (madrassah). When the Second World War broke out, he was still a student.

Issa later relocated to the port of Merca at the age of sixteen, where he would work as a postal clerk. He thereafter returned to Mogadishu and assumed a position in the Department of Economic Affairs. Following the British military occupation of Italian Somaliland in the early 1940s, Issa was relieved from his duties. He then embarked on a business career.