Ex-PM Omer Ghalib described as ‘true diplomat’ dies in Hargeisa

GOOBJOOG NEWS|HARGEISA: Former Somali Prime Minister Omer Arteh Ghalib who served as Prime Minister during the height of chaos in Somalia has died.

Ghalib who became prime minister between 1991 and 1993 succumbed to illness after a lengthy stay in a hospital in Hargeisa,  family and friends  said. He was 89.

Ghalib was appointed Prime Minister by Siad Barre in 1991 and later re-appointed by Ali Mhadi to the same position. He stepped down in 1993 amid a long-running clash between Mahdi and his ally turned foe Farah Aideed.

Ghalib, described by many of his time as a ‘true diplomat’ mediated the Uganda-Tanzania war in 1972 and later oversaw the entry of Somalia into the Arab League in 1974. He became Foreign Affairs Minister in 1977.

His son, Mohamed Omer Ghalib was appointed deputy prime minister in 2015.