Mogadishu airport named after first president

(SomaliNet) The main airport of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia has on Saturday been given to a new name as "Aden Adde International Airport" dropping its original name of Mogadishu Airport.

This was done due to honouring the first president of Somalia Aden Abdulle Osman "Aden Adde" who had died in Nairobi, Kenya late Friday at the age of 99.

Somali interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said the reason that the airport in Mogadishu was given the new name was to remember Aden Abdulle Osman "Aden Adde" the first president of Somalia after its independence in 1960.

Aden Adde was the first African president who had relinquished his post after he lost the 1967 presidential election to Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.

In an urgent meeting held in Mogadishu, the cabinet ministers announced that late president Aden Adde will receive a state funeral and sent condolences to all Somalis and his family.

Abdi Haji Gobdon, the spokesman for the transitional government told journalists that a special panel in the cabinet was formed for the funeral of Aden Adde who will be buried in Mogadishu on Monday.

Aden Adde who had died in Nairobi, Kenya late Friday was remembered that he had never gone outside of the country after he stepped down from power in 1967 through democratic means.

He has been in the country until his death was nearer and taken to Nairobi where he passed away.

He left behind eight children, six sons and two daughters. Aden Adde was the third president of Somalia to die. His successor Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke died inside the country and the late president Mohamed Siad Barre who had been ruling the horn of African country Somalia for 21 years died in Nigeria.

The death of the first president Aden Adde was shockng news to all Somalis inside and outside of the country. Aden Adde was attributed as the best leader in Somalia.

People in Mogadishu welcomed the new name of the city's airport.

By Mohamed Abdi Farah

Somalia | News | |