Ismail Mahmud Hurre

Ismail Mahmoud Hurre (, ; 1943 – 5 April 2023), nicknamed Buubaa, was a Somali politician who served first Minister of Finance of Somaliland and twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.

Biography

Early life Buubaa was born in 1943 in the Maygaagta area on the outskirts of Hargeisa

After completing middle school at Cammuud, he attended the Hargeisa Teachers’ Training College (TTC) for two years and, in parallel, pursued a UK high-school qualification by correspondence while in Hargeisa, sitting the examination in 1959.

In 1961, he traveled to the United States for higher education, earning his bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico. He returned to Somalia in 1965 and worked as an English teacher at Lafoole (NTEC) until 1967. That year, he went back to the United States, where he specialized in creative writing at Syracuse University, receiving his master's degree in 1969. Upon returning again to Somalia in 1969, he became the dean and a lecturer at Lafoole University College, heading the English Department until 1970.

After the Siad Barre coup in 1970, Buubaa refused to cooperate with the new government and returned to the United States. He resumed doctoral studies at Brandeis University, writing a dissertation on the history of ideas, and became Director of the university’s Transitional Year Program that same year. In 1971, he joined the University of New Hampshire as a faculty member in English. Between 1972 and 1973, he completed a second doctoral degree at Boston University with a dissertation related to his philosophical interests. According to Somali-language media, he helped organize Somaliland’s early fiscal administration and was associated with initial discussions on introducing a Somaliland shilling currency. During the September 11 attacks in 2001, he wrote promptly to the U.S. Secretary of State stating, "we support you, and we share your concern about the possibility that al-Qaeda may move into Somalia," though the United States prioritized Afghanistan and al-Qaeda there and was less engaged in restoring security in Somalia.

When the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia was established in 2004, Buubaa became one of its members. In December 2004, Buubaa was appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation. From 2004 to 2005, during the presidency of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, he served as Minister of Regional Cooperation. In November 2006, he met with the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Triesman, Baron Triesman.

From 2007 to 2008, Buubaa served as Minister of Culture and Higher Education.

In July 2009, Buubaa was among five members expelled from the Transitional Federal Parliament of Somalia.

In July 2013, a non-governmental advisory political forum titled the "Council for National Unity and Strengthening Statehood" was launched in Mogadishu, and Buubaa was named its interim chairman.

Return to Somaliland In June 2015, during an exclusive interview with Horn Cable Television in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Buubaa stated his intention to return to Somaliland. In September 2015, Buubaa returned to Somaliland.

In September 2016, Buubaa criticized Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, arguing that the 1960 union between Somaliland and Somalia had been ruined by former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and "buried" in 2016 by the incumbent president. And he stated that the issue of Somaliland was not secession but the restoration of the independence it had obtained in the 1960s and that Somalia and Somaliland should aim to become cooperating brother-states.

In October 2016, Buubaa criticized the postponement of the Somaliland presidential election.

In June 2017, Buubaa attempted to depart from Egal International Airport but was prevented from leaving; the Somaliland Minister of Interior stated that this was because he had not obtained a Somaliland passport and tried to travel using a passport issued by the Federal Government of Somalia, and that his passport had been confiscated.

In 2018, President Muse Bihi Abdi mandated that mobile money transactions under US$100 be conducted in Somaliland shilling. Buubaa, who was a member of the opposition Waddani party, criticized the policy, arguing that it was intended to conceal the depletion of dollar reserves caused by the introduction of the Somaliland shilling during the administration of former president Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" and that it could negatively affect domestic businesses.

In March 2019, in an interview with Lebanon’s Al-Nashra media, he welcomed the Turkish government’s mediation between the Federal Government of Somalia and Somaliland.

In October 2020, Buubaa criticized the political structures of the three major parties in Somaliland — Kulmiye, Waddani, and UCID — arguing that their organizational frameworks resembled the former Somali socialist party under Mohamed Siad Barre.

In February 2021, ahead of the Somali presidential election (originally slated for 2021 but held in 2022), Buubaa publicly supported the re-election of incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, though the contest was ultimately won by former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Death Hurre died on 5 April 2023, in Ankara, Turkey, at the age of 80. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of the Somali Federal Government and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also expressed their condolences following Buubaa’s death.