This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by their given name, Muse, and not as Bihi Abdi.
Musa Bihi Abdi (Somali: Muuse Biixi Cabdi, Arabic: موسى بيحي عبدي; born 16 June 1948)[2] is a Somaliland politician and former military officer who served as the 5th President of Somaliland from 2017 to 2024.
During the 1970s, he served as a pilot in the Somali Air Force under the Siad Barre administration. In 2010, Bihi was appointed the chairman of the ruling Kulmiye party in Somaliland. In November 2015, Bihi was selected as the party's Presidential Candidate at the 5th annual central committee convention.[3][4]
Muse was born in the outskirts of Hargeisa in 1948, then part of the British Somaliland protectorate.[7] He attended Amoud Secondary School, which he graduated from in 1970.[7]
Military career
Muse joined the Somali Air Force in 1970 and trained as an officer in the Soviet Union until 1973, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Academy of Pilots in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR (present-day Tajikistan).[7][8] Upon the completion of the training he was stationed in air bases in Baledogle, Baidoa as well as the air force's main base in Mogadishu.[7]
From 1985 to 1988, Bihi took part in conducting intensive guerrilla war operations conducted by the SNM during the war against the Barre's regime. Until 1990, Bihi served as rebel commander before joining politics and serving as home affairs minister under the late President Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal in 1994.[5][11][12]
Political career
Somali Democratic Republic
From 1973 to 1985 Muse held high ranking positions in the government of the Somali Democratic Republic, including the head of the training department of the Somali Air Force as well as the military attaché of the Somali embassy in Washington.[8]
Egal administration
After the declaration of Independence of Somaliland in 1991, Col. Muse played a vital role in the reconciliation process between the northern Somali clans in Burao, Berbera, Sheekh and Borama.[13]
In 1993, Muse served as Minister of Interior and National Security in late President Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal's government.[2]
Silanyo administration
In 2010, Muse became the chairman of Somaliland's Kulmiye Party, after serving as the vice chairman of the party from 2008.[7] In 2015, he was elected by the Party Congress as the Kulmiye presidential candidate in the forthcoming 2017 presidential election.[2]
The 2017 Somaliland presidential elections were held on 13 November 2017. On 21 November Muse was announced as the winner of the election, becoming President-elect of Somaliland.[5][14]
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