Abdirizak Haji Hussein (24 December 1924-31 January 2014) was Prime Minister of Somalia from 14 June 1964 to 15 July 1967, succeeding Abdirashid Shermarke and preceding Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal.
Biography[]
Abdirizak Haji Hussein was born in Galkayo, Somalia in 1924, and he was self-educated in Somali, Italian, and English. He served in the British military administration following World War II, joining the nationalist Somali Youth League before serving as Minister of the Interior from 1960 to 1962, Minister of Public Works and Communications from 1962 to 1964, and Prime Minister from 1964 to 1967. While he favored Somali irridentism, he denied supporting Somali nationalist groups in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia and in northeastern Kenya. He was imprisoned by Siad Barre's dictatorship from 1969 to 1973, served as Somalia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1974 to 1979, and served as a mediator during the Somali Civil War. He died of pneumonia in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2014.