Mahamed Abdi is from the
Qayaad branch of the
Dhulbahante clan. Mahamed Abdi was born in the rural community of Hargaga, west of
Las Anod in the
Sool region. A son,
Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi Hashi, was born in September 1955.
Political careers He chaired the United Somali Party (USP), a political organization created in 1991. In January 1993 he attended a Somali civil war reconciliation conference in
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.。 At the end of 1996, Mahamed Abdi and other anti-Somaliland factions with the support of the
diaspora held a
Dhulbahante clan meeting in
Bo'ame, where a resolution was passed to unite the
Halti, consisting of the Dhulbahante clan and others. This was one of the triggers for the later founding of
Puntland.
Vice President Puntland to Interim President In 1998, when
Puntland was founded,
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed became president. According to a pre-election agreement, the president was to come from the
Majeerteen clan, the vice president from the
Dulbahante clan, and the speaker of the assembly from the
Warsangali clan. The vice presidency was to be contested among the branches of the Dulbahante clan, with Mahamed Abdi,
Ahmed Abdi Mohamed, and Yasin Ali Abdulle Tamat, of which Mahamed Abdi became vice president. Mahamed Abdi would serve as vice president (and interim president) for the next six-plus years, often at odds with the power-hungry President Yusuf. Meanwhile, to end the
Somali Civil War, other countries supported the reconstruction of the central government of Somalia, and the
Transitional Federal Government of Somalia was established as a preparatory body. Mahamed Abdi became president of Puntland as a bridge until the next Puntland presidential elections. Note that Abdullahi Yusuf was ousted from the presidency once in 2001, and for a few months, people such as
Yusuf Haji Nur and
Jama Ali Jama took over as president, so Mahamed Abdi is formally the fifth president of Puntland. However, Yusuf Haji Nur and Jama Ali Jama were soon ousted militarily, and Yusuf became president again, so Mahamed Abdi is sometimes described as the “
second president of Puntland." On the other hand, he is sometimes referred to as the interim president because of his elevated position from vice president until the next presidential election. At the end of October 2004, fighting broke out between Puntland and neighboring
Somaliland to the west. In response, President Mahamed Abdi sent a letter to President
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed of the
Transitional Federal Government of Somalia saying that the situation was “very dangerous.” On January 8, 2005, Mahamed Abdi ran for President of Puntland, but the parliamentary vote resulted in 30 votes for Mahamed Abdi and 35 votes for
Mohamud Muse Hersi, and Mahamed Muse Hersi was elected President of Puntland.
Thereafter In April 2019, Mahamed Abdi received a visit from Puntland President
Said Abdullahi Deni at his home in
Nairobi, Kenya. Mahamed Abdi fell ill in
Nairobi, Kenya, and died shortly thereafter on July 12, 2020. Mahamed Abdi was buried in
Garowe, the capital of Puntland.。 ==Family==