Mahmoud Harbi

Maxamuud Xarbi Faarax was born in 1921 in Ali Sabieh. Joining the French Navy during World War II, his combat service across the Mediterranean deepened his anti-imperialist conviction.

Returning to Djibouti, Harbi became leader of the Union Democratique Somalienne and was elected Vice-President of the Government Council in 1957. A passionate advocate of Pan-Somali reunification, Harbi defiantly campaigned for a 'No' vote in the September 1958 French constitutional referendum. Deposed and exiled following French manipulation of the poll, he organized armed liberation from Cairo and Mogadishu. On September 29, 1960, his aircraft crashed under mysterious circumstances over Italy, an enduring martyr of the Horn.