Somalia has declared three days for the national mourning of ex-Prime Minister Nur Adde, who died in a London hospital after contracting coronavirus (covid-19).
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo decreed on Wednesday for flags to fly at half-mast and allow the public to mourn the former official who served as the first transitional government prime minister.
“Realising the efforts of the deceased for his country and people, I hereby declare three days of national mourning, lowering the national flag to half mast,” Farmaajo said in a statement.
Nur Hassan Hussein, popularly known as Nur Adde, died earlier on Wednesday.
In a statement circulated by his family, the former premier died at Kings College Hospital in London, UK, where he had been treated for Coronavirus over the past two weeks.
Born in 1930 in Mogadishu, Nur had most of his education in the capital prior to joining the Somali Police Force.
Later he became the Secretary of the Somali Red Crescent Society.
Former Somali Transitional Federal Government Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed appointed Nur Adde prime minister on 22 November 2007.
Nur Adde chaired a crucial reconciliation meeting held for Somalis in Djibouti in 2008, where a section of the Islamists (Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia -ARS) led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed joined the transitional government.
As a result of the agreement reached in Djibouti, the membership of the transitional parliament was doubled to 550 after the Islamists were allowed to select 275 members.
The process led to Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed being elected president in January 2009 after defeating Nur Adde in the election.
Later on, Nur Adde became the Somali Ambassador to Italy where he lived in Rome until he was replaced and moved to London, UK.
Sources: The East African
