President of Somaliland
Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud "Silanyo" (Somali: Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud "Siilaanyo", Arabic: احمد محمد محمود سيلانيو) (born 1936) is a Somali politician. He is the current Chairman of the Peace, Unity and Development Party (Kulmiye) and President of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic internationally recognized as an autonomous region in Somalia. Standing as an opposition candidate, Silanyo was elected as President during the June 2010 presidential election.[1]
Early life
From 1946 to 1957, he attended the secondary schools in the towns of Sheekh and Amud in northwestern Somalia. He passed the advanced level GCE examinations in London, England, from 1958 to 1960. He then attended college at the University of Manchester, and earned an Honors Bachelor's Degree in Economics (1960–63). He completed his Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in 1966.
Political experience
Silanyo served as a junior official at the Ministry of Planning and Coordination in Mogadishu from 1965 to 1969. He was also the Minister of Planning and Coordination (1969–1973), the Minister of Commerce (1973–1978 and 1980–1982), and the Chairman of the National Economic Board (1978–1980). He was the Chairman of the Somali National Movement from 1982 to 1990, and was that organization's longest-serving chairman. From 1993 to 1997, he was a member of the House of Representatives of Somaliland. He served as the Somaliland region's Minister of Finance from 1997 to 1999, in which position he initiated a program of fiscal reform. Between 1999 and 2000, he also worked as Somaliland's Minister of Planning and Coordination, a position from which he resigned in 2001.[2]
In 2010, a local Somaliland company, Somaliland Cable (SomCable) Ltd announced it was contracted to deploy the submarine cable from Djibouti to Somaliland would pull the submarine cable from Djibouti port to Berbera by sea (submarine cable) and on land, it would run cost effective land based long haul fiber-optic communications networks from Djibouti to Somaliland. SomCable declared it would invest $35 million USD on the project and would employ more than 10, 000 locals where funding will come from the current President Silanyo.[citation needed]
