Abdi Rashid Ali Shermarke
Shermarke, Abdi Rashid Ali
(also Abdulrashid Ali Shermarke). Born Nov. 16, 1919; died Oct. 15, 1969. State and political figure of the Somali Republic.
Shermarke graduated from the School of Politics and Administration and the Higher Institute of Law, Economics, and Social Studies in Mogadishu; he was also a graduate of the law school of the University of Rome. In 1947 he helped found the Somali Youth League, which governed the country from 1960 to 1969. He headed the first national government of Somalia from 1960 to 1964 and became president on June 30, 1967. Shermarke was killed by one of his bodyguards on a trip to northern Somalia.