Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
3 May 2002
The Government of the Republic of South Africa has learnt with regret and sadness of the passing away of the leader of Somaliland, Muhammad Ibrahim Egal who was undergoing treatment in a South African hospital at the time of his death.
Somaliland received its independence from Great Britain on 26 June 1960, and later voluntarily united with Somalia. Its withdrawal from this union in 1991 was not recognized by the international community. In May 2001 a referendum reinforced the sentiments of the people of Somaliland for self-government.
Muhammad Egal belonged to a generation of leaders of Africa at the time of independence from colonialism, and was a contemporary of Kwame Nkrumah, Leopold Senghor and Jomo Kenyatta. He was the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Somalia.
The Government expresses its condolences to Somaliland and its people.