Ali Said Abdella (September 1949 – August 28, 2005) was an

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

n rebel commander, politician and diplomat, who at the time of his death was serving as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

of Eritrea. Ali Said was the son of a local sheik. He was of Afar ethnic origin. As a young man, he joined the

Eritrean Liberation Front ar, جبهة التحرير الإريترية it, Fronte di Liberazione Eritreo , war = the Ethiopian Civil War, Eritrean War of Independence and the Eritrean Civil Wars , image = , caption = Flag of the ELF ...

, a rebel group which was fighting for Eritrean independence from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. He received medical and military training in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1965, after which he was known to lead a commando operation for hijacking and consequently burning the Ethiopian aeroplane in Karachi, Pakistan in 1969. Soon he returned to Eritrea where he was an active fighter. By the 1970s he had switched to Eritrea's other rebel group, the

Eritrean People's Liberation Front The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...

Ed Harris
"Eritrean foreign minister and ex-rebel dies"
Reuters, August 28, 2005. and, in 1977, he became a member of the

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

of that organization. He was the commander of Nacfa front when the city was liberated in 1977."Eritrea: FM died of heart attack, autopsy"
, ''Eritrea Daily'', August 28, 2005. When Eritrea gained independence in the early 1990s, first from 1990-93 before Eritrean referendum was conducted, Ali Said served as a chief of military operations. Later in the new government, he became the first Minister of Internal Affairs. He was then appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry in February 1997. In October 2000, Ali Said was moved from his position as Minister of Trade and Industry to that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, switching jobs with

Haile Woldense Haile Woldense or Woldetensae (ሃይለ ወልደትንሳኤ) is an Eritrean politician. Woldense was born in 1946 and attended High School in Asmara, Eritrea. After graduation, he was accepted to the Addis Ababa University engineering progr ...

. He was a fluent

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

speaker, and most of his overseas trips were to Middle Eastern countries. He also made an official visit to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in April 2005."Prepackaged War"
, ''Kommersant'', April 15, 2005. Ali Said died suddenly of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in his sleep at his home in Eritrea's capital,

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

, on August 28, 2005. The Eritrean government declared three days of public mourning for him. There have been numerous speculation that top government officials including the President killed Ali due to secret talks he had about creating an uprising in Asmara and for it to spread across the country. These speculations have yet be confirmed and no sources were provided to back up the claim. Ali Said was married and had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Said Abdella 1949 births 2005 deaths People from Northern Red Sea Region Eritrean diplomats People's Front for Democracy and Justice politicians Foreign ministers of Eritrea Government ministers of Eritrea