09/06/07 (B399) BBC Décès à 99 ans du premier Président de la Somalie Aden Abdulle Osman (En Anglais – Info lectrice) First president of Somalia dies.

Somalia’s first president,
Aden Abdulle Osman, has died aged 99 in a Kenyan hospital where he had
been in a coma.

He was also the first
African leader to voluntarily relinquish his post after he lost the 1967
presidential election – Somalia’s last democratic poll.

Siad Barre seized
power two years later and since he was ousted in 1991 rival warlords have
fought for control.

Mr Osman was a well-respected
leader and emerged as an elder statesman in attempts to establish lasting
peace.

His family says he
was very unhappy with the current crisis and his dream was to see Somalia
attain peace and stability.

Mr Osman rose to prominence
as a nationalist politician in the 1950s.

He was elected head
of state when the former British and Italian Somali colonies joined to
form the Republic of Somalia in 1960.

Some Somali leaders
have remembered him as a simple, down-to-earth person.