Djibouti, November 25, 2006 (SL Times) – Long time serving and first president of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr Hassan Guled Abtidon aged at ninety died in the early hours of Tuesday morning (21 November 2006), at his private residence in the capitol, Djibouti. The late president was buried on Tuesday in Balanbala cemetary in the capitol and was given a full state funeral attended by the current president of Djibouti, Mr Ismail Omar Gele, family of the late president and government officials including many foreign dignitaries and general public.

Hassan Guled Abtidon served as Djibouti’s head of state from 1977 when Djibouti got its independence from France up to 1999 when he voluntarily stepped down and named his nephew the current president of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Gele as his successor and went into retirement. During French colonial rule Djibouti was known as the French Somali Coast and later as Issa & Afar French Territories.

Hassan Guled Abtidon was born in 1916 in the district of Lughaya, in present day Somaliland. In 1950 he became a member of the national Assembly and went to form the current ruling political party of president Ismail Omar Gele.

‘Djibouti, will not be the same without Hassan Guled Abtidon’ is a phrase many commentators and general public at large in Djibouti have been saying over the last few days, reiterating the fact 'he was the founding father and architect of modern day Djibouti '.

Source: Somaliland Times