
Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal (15 August 1928-3 May 2002) was Prime Minister of Somaliland from 26 June to 1 July 1960, Prime Minister of Somalia from 1 to 12 July 1960 (succeeding Abdullahi Issa and preceding Abdirashid Ali Shermarke) and from 15 July 1967 to 21 October 1969 (succeeding Abdirizak Haji Hussein and preceding Mohammad Ali Samatar), and President of Somaliland from 16 May 1993 to 3 May 2002 (succeeding Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tuur and preceding Dahir Riyale Kahin).
Biography[]
Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal was born in Odweyne, British Somaliland in 1928, and he was educated in Britain before entering politics with the Somali Youth League. He served as Prime Minister of Somaliland before it merged with Somalia in 1960, upon which he came to briefly serve as Prime Minister of Somalia. He also served as Somalia's Defense Minister from 1960 to 1962, Education Minister from 1962 to 1963, and as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1969, when he and President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke were overthrown in a Marxist military coup. Egal was exiled as Ambassador to India from 1976 to 1978 before being imprisoned on conspiracy charges in 1985. He went on to serve as President of Somaliland from 1993 to 2002, disarming rebel groups in the region amid the Somali Civil War. He died while undergoing surgery in 2002.