OBIT: Somalia’s maritime case key man Eng. Mohamed Salihi is dead

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADSHU: Somalia’s presidential advisor on the ongoing maritime case with Kenya engineer Mohamed Omar Salihi died this morning at Aden Adde Airport in Mogadishu upon return from Turkey where he had been undergoing treatment. He was 69.

Sources said engineer Salihi had requested to be flown home from Turkey but died inside the airport Thursday morning. He was reportedly suffering from diabetes.

Engineer Salihi was appointed by former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 2014 as an advisor on the maritime and was subsequently retained by his successor Mohamed Farmaajo.

The deceased was born in Luuq district, Gedo region in 1952. His father was a member of the independence movement Somali Youth League (SYL) and treasurer in the local government. Engineer Salihi attended primary and high school in Luuq, Baidoa and Banadir between 1958 and 1968 and was picked for scholarship in Poland after emerging among the top five in his class.

He studied for a masters degree in Warsaw and returned to Somalia in 1979 where he worked in various government projects in the agricultural and construction sectors building canals, the National Museum and the Ministry of Defence.

Engineer Salihi was picked by then-President Mohamed Siad Barre to be part of the joint Somalia-Ethiopia committee tasked with dismantling the forces and military positions along the borders of the two countries between 1998 and 1990.

Between 1998 and 2000, engineer Salihi studies Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the University of Dar es Salaam. He served as deputy minister of agriculture between 2000 and 2002 and later proceeded to UAE where he received his PhD.

He played a key role in documentation, mapping among other tasks during the Somalia -Kenya maritime case which began in 2014 and concluded in March this year. He spoke English, Italian, Polish, Arabic and Russian.