Mayor of Mogadishu

The Mayor of Mogadishu is head of the executive branch of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces laws within the city. The current mayor is Omar Muhamoud Finnish, who was appointed on 22 August 2019 and succeeded the Martyr Mayor Abdirahman Omar Osman, who was killed on 1 August 2019 due to a suicide bombing occurred 24 July 2019 inside the mayor's office.

Mogadishu City Hall, where the mayor's office is located.

The mayor's office is located in Mogadishu City Hall, which was recently renovated after years of abandonment and decay during the Somali Civil War. The mayor is not elected, but is appointed by the President of Somalia. The mayor also holds the title of Governor of Benaadir, an administrative region whose territory is coextensive with the city of Mogadishu.

History of the office

The first mayor of Mogadishu was Romeo Campani, an Italian expatriate who was appointed by General Rodolfo Graziani, the Governor of Italian Somaliland. Beginning in 1953 with the appointment of Cali Cumar Sheegow, the office of mayor has been held by native Somalis. After Somalian independence from Italy in 1960, the mayor has been appointed by the President of Somalia.

List of mayors

Colonial mayors

The following mayors of Mogadishu were appointed by the Governor of Italian Somaliland. From 1941 to 1949, resulting from World War II, the British occupied the territory and appointed the mayors, who remained Italians. Beginning in 1953, native Somalis were appointed to the office.

#	Mayor	Term	Governor
1	Romeo Campani	1 December 1936 – 15 December 1937	Rodolfo Graziani Angelo de Ruben Ruggiero Santini
2	Rag Scarpa	15 December 1937 – 1 March 1937	Francesco Saviero Caroselli
3	Dr. Sicar	1 March 1937 – 3 June 1937
4	Luigi Barbino	3 June 1937 – 1937
5	Marcelio Baudino	1937 – December 1938
6	Sanatore Guliano	December 1938 – February 1941
			Gustavo Pesenti Carlo De Simone
7	Pietro Bartelli	February 1941 – April 1950	Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith William Eric Halstead Scuphan Denis Henry Widcham Eric Armar Vully de Candole Geoffrey Massey Gamble
			Giovanni Fornari
8	Oliveri Olivierio	April 1950 – June 1950
9	Enrico Aliviero	June 1950 – November 1953
10	Carlo Vecco	November 1953 – 1953
11	Maxamed Sheekh Jamaal Cabdulaahi	1956–1960	Enrico Anzilotti Mario Di Stefano

Post-independence mayors

Since Somalia's independence on 1 July 1960, mayors of Mogadishu have been appointed by the President of Somalia:

#	Image	Mayor	Term	Party	President
13		Axmed Muudde Xuseen	1960 – August 1962	Somali Youth League	Aden Abdullah Osman Daar
14		Keynadiid Axmed Yuusuf	August 1962 – September 1963	Somali Youth League
15		Shariif Maxamed Imaankeey	September 1963 – 1965	Somali Youth League
16		Cumar Xasan Maxamuud	1965 – February 1966	Somali Youth League
17		Shariif Maxamed Caydaruus	1966–1970	Somali Youth League	Abdirashid Ali Shermarke Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein
18		Axmed Maxamuud Cadde	20 November 1970 – 8 December 1970	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party	Siad Barre
19		Osman Mohamed Jeelle	8 December 1970 – 1973[1]	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
20		Hassan Abshir Farah	28 March 1973 – February 1976	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
21		Yusuf Ibrahim Aburas	February 1976 – May 1981	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
22		Cabdullaahi Salaad Warsame	May 1981 – 1982	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
23		Hassan Abshir Farah	1982–1987	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
24		Ali Ougas Abdul	1987 – 16 January 1990[2][3]	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
25		Said Umar Afrah	16 January 1990 – 18 October 1990[3]	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
26		Ahmed Jilacow Addow	18 October 1990 – 26 January 1991[4]	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
27		Omar Hashi Aden	1992–1994	United Somali Congress	Ali Mahdi Muhammad
28		Hussein Ali Ahmed	1994	United Somali Congress
29		Abdullahi Muse Hussein	2000– 2004[5]	United Somali Congress
					Ali Mahdi Muhammad Abdiqasim Salad Hassan
30		Ibrahim Shaweye	c. June 2005[6]		Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
31		Adde Gabow	15 January 2007 – May 2007
32		Mohamed Omar Habeb	May 2007 – 30 July 2008
–		Mohamed Osman Ali Dhakahtur	2008 – 2010 (acting)		Adan Mohamed Nuur Madobe Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
33		Mohamed Nur	2010 – 27 February 2014		Sharif Sheikh Ahmed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
34		Hassan Mohamed Hussein	27 February 2014 – November 2015	Independent	Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
35		Yusuf Hussein Jimaale	November 2015 – 5 April 2017	Peace and Development Party
36		Thabit Abdi Mohammed	15 April 2017 – 19 January 2018		Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
37		Abdirahman Omar Osman	20 January 2018 – 1 August 2019		Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
38		Omar Muhamoud Finnish	22 August 2019- Current Mayor		Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

Vice mayors

Iman Nur Ikar

The mayor of Mogadishu is assisted by a vice mayor or deputy mayor. The current vice mayor is Iman Nur Ikar.

Notable former vice mayors

• Hassan Haji Mohamoud (1982–1991)

Living former mayors

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Living former mayors of Mogadishu include: Hassan Mohamed Hussein, Hassan Abshir Farah, Yusuf Hussein Jimaale, and Mohamed Nur.

In popular culture

Towards the end of the Somali Rebellion, President Siad Barre was sometimes mockingly referred to by many as the "Mayor of Mogadishu," based on the fact that Barre controlled little territory outside the capital.[7] By 1989, when the United Somali Congress had captured most surrounding towns and villages, this had become a common saying in Somalia, and on 29 September 1990, the British newspaper The Economist used the phrase in reference to Barre.[8]

During the early 1990s, after the overthrow of the Siad regime and during the Somali famine, Dan Eldon, a British photojournalist who covered the famine and conflict, became popular among Mogadishans that he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Mogadishu."[9][10]

See also

• Politics of Somalia

References

1. Abukar, Hassan (2015-05-26). Mogadishu Memoir. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781504911559.
2. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Somalia: Information on the mayor of Mogadishu during 1990-1992 and whether the city of Mogadishu issued identity cards and the reasons behind their issuance". Refworld. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
3. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Somalia: Update to SOM27549 of 27 August 1997 on place of issue of Somali birth certificates; update to SOM12922.E of 27 January 1993 on the names of the mayors of Mogadishu in 1988 and 1990". Refworld. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
4. Kapteijns, Lidwien (2012-12-18). Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 133. ISBN 0812207580.
5. Barise, Hassan (2001-09-03). "Taxman returns to Mogadishu". BBC News.
6. "WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY in Mogadishu, Mogadishu University and SCWE". www.somwe.com. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
7. Harper, Mary (2012-02-09). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781780321059.
8. Harper, Mary (2012-02-09). Getting Somalia Wrong?: Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. Zed Books Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 9781780321059.
9. "Young photographer exposed Somalia's horrors". CNN. 1997-12-07. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
10. Lorch, Donatella (1993-08-22). "Endpaper/Life and Times; Four Friends". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-01.