Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi

Not to be confused with Abdirahman M. Abdullahi, the current governor of the Central Bank of Somalia.

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by their given name, Abdirahman, and not as Mohamed Abdullahi.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Somali: Cabdiraxmaan Maxamed Cabdillaahi Cirro, Arabic: عبد الرحمن محمد عبد الله; born 24 April 1956), colloquially known as Irro (Somali: Cirro), is a Somaliland politician and diplomat who has been the 6th and current President of Somaliland since 12 December 2024.

His Excellency Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro)
Cabdiraxmaan Maxamed Cabdillaahi Cirro عبد الرحمن محمد عبد الله عِرُّو
Official portrait, 2024
6th President of Somaliland
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2024
Vice President	Mohamed Aw-Ali Abdi
Preceded by	Muse Bihi Abdi
4th Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives
In office November 2005 – 2 August 2017
Preceded by	Ahmed Mohamed Adan
Succeeded by	Bashe Mohamed Farah
Chairman of Waddani
In office October 2012 – 16 November 2021
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Hersi Ali Haji Hassan
Personal details
Born	(1956-04-24) 24 April 1956 (age 69) Hargeisa, British Somaliland (present-day Somaliland)
Citizenship	Somaliland Finland
Political party	Waddani (since 2012)
Other political affiliations	Justice and Welfare Party (until 2010)
Alma mater	SOS Sheikh Secondary School American University (MBA)
Signature

Abdirahman served as speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives during most of the first elected parliament.^[1][2][3][4] He was announced as the presidential nominee in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election for the Waddani Party.^[5]

Career

Early career

Professionally, Abdirahman worked at the Settlement Development Agency (Dan-wadaagaha) in different parts of Somalia. From 1981, he took on a position in the foreign service of the Somali Democratic Republic. Abdirahman also served in the Somali Embassy as the first consular in Moscow, which covered the entire Soviet Union.^[6] In 1991, he was re-appointed as Somalia's acting Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In this capacity, Abdirahman assisted the many Somali expatriates who had left Somalia following outbreak of the civil war. He later relocated to Finland in 1996 to join his family, who had moved there a few years prior,^[7] and subsequently received Finnish citizenship.^[8]

UCID Party

In 2005, Abdirahman was elected in the 2005 Somaliland parliamentary election to represent the Justice and Welfare Party (UCID) in Sahil.^[9]

The UCID political party was the first opposition party formally formed in Somaliland, Somalia after the ruling United Peoples' Democratic Party (UDUB), while other politicians generally focused their opposition against the region's incumbent Egal administration (AHN). UCID also supported the referendum which put the foundation for the multi-party system, a process which many politicians have opposed and saw favouring Egal (AHN).^[10]

2005 Somaliland parliamentary election

Somaliland held elections to an 82-member House of Representatives on 29 September 2005.^[11] It was the first multi-party parliamentary election conducted in Somaliland since 1991, when the civil war began.

2017 Somaliland presidential election

The 2017 Somaliland presidential election was the third direct presidential election since 2003, held nominally on 13 November 2017. The result was a victory for ruling Kulmiye party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi, who received 55% of the vote. Abdirahman received 41% of the vote.^[12]

2024 Somaliland presidential election

Abdirahman was elected President of Somaliland in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election as the candidate of the Waddani Party. He won nearly 64% of the vote, while incumbent president Muse Bihi Abdi received 35%.^[13] He was inaugurated on 12 December 2024.^[14]