Abdulrahim Abby Farah

Abdulrahim Abby Farah (, ; 22 October 1919 – 14 May 2018) was a Welsh-born Somali diplomat and politician. He was Assistant Secretary-General for Special Political Questions 1973-1978 and Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations 1979-1990. He served as the Permanent Representative of Somalia to the United Nations, and as the Ambassador of Somalia to Ethiopia. He was the Chairperson of the PaSAGO non-governmental organization. He hailed from the Mohamed Isa subdivision of the Isa Musa subclan of the Isaaq Somali.

Personal life Farah was born on 22 October 1919, in Barry, Wales, and came from the Isa Musa subclan of the Isaaq. His father Abby Farah, was a Somali entrepreneur and sailor, who was awarded an MBE for his community service to sailors in war time. His mother, Hilda Anderson, ran a boarding house. Racial tensions in South East Wales were high at the time, following on from the Cardiff Race Riots in June 1919.

Farah grew up in Barry, attending Gladstone Road School, and Barry Grammar School.

He earned degrees from the University College, Exeter and Balliol College, Oxford University in England.

Farah was married four times, and divorced twice. He met his third wife Sheila Farrell, a history teacher and speechwriter (d. 1997) at Oxford. He married his fourth wife, Hodan Goth in 2001 and had seven children in total.

From 1969 to 1972, Farah was the Chairperson of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, presiding over a special session of the United Nations Security Council with Umar Ateh Galib in 1972. He acted as the Assistant Secretary-General for Special Political Questions between 1973 and 1978.

From 1973 to 1978, he was the Undersecretary-General for Special Political Questions, later becoming the Undersecretary General from 1979 to 1990. In 1990, Farah headed the UN Mission on ‘Progress made on the Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences on South Africa’. He maintained his Welsh accent throughout his life.