Zakariye Haji Abdi ( so, Sakariye Xaaji Cabdi) (born 1958) is the former Somali Minister for Information and Telecommunication, Higher Education & Culture, acting foreign minister and the leader of Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. He helped organize the May 2000 Somali Peace Conference and later served on the technical committee for the Djibouti Peace process.

Early life

Zakaria was born in

Galkacyo Galkayo ( so, Gaalkacyo, ar, جالكعيو Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116.) which in Af- Somali translates t ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, in 1958, and he comes from the Leelkase Tanade, a sub-clan of the Darod clan.

Education

From an early age he attended Dugsi where he would memorize the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

and learn the basic Islamic Principles. He attended an Egyptian elementary school in Galkacyo. The family moved to

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

in 1969, where he attended intermediate and secondary school. He graduated from

Riyadh University King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the K ...

, faculty of Agriculture, where he obtained a BSc in agricultural engineering. He has an MBA from State University of New York at Albany and an M.Sc. from

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

in London.

Career

Somali Minister

Zakaria served as a Minister of Information, Minister of Education and acting foreign minister for two consecutive

IGAD The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa. It includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes. It is headquartered in Djibouti (city), Djibouti. Member s ...

summit meetings in Khartoum, Sudan, and Kampala, Uganda (2002–2003). Member of Somali parliament from 2004 to 2007. Also member of

Arab Parliament The Arab Parliament is the legislative body of the Arab League. At the 19th Arab League Summit in Amman, the Arab states agreed to create an Arab Parliament, and came up with a resolution to give Amr Moussa the Secretary General of the Arab Le ...

from 2005 to 2007 as member of Foreign Relations and Strategic Security of the Arab World.

Leadership profiles

Zakaria is former minister in several portfolios, member of Somali and Arab Parliaments, former leader and one of the founders of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. He was one of the presidential candidates of Somalia in the 2012 presidential election. He is currently secretary general of the Council of Somali Political Parties, senior expert consultant at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Federal Republic of Somalia in Food Security and Agri-Business sectors, as well as chairman of Hufan Group of Company in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Personal life

Mr Zakaria is a father and has children.

References

Living people 1958 births Somalian politicians People from Galkayo {{Somalia-bio-stub