Haji Muse Boqor

{{Multiple issues|{{refimprove|date=January 2025}}}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = 1st Somali Minister of Interior affairs

| birth_date = 1911

| birth_name = {{lang|so|Muuse Boqor Cismaan}}

| birth_place = Bargal, Majeerteeniya, Italian Somalia

| death_date = {{death date and age|1991|1|5|1911|1|12|df=yes}}

| term_start = 1956

| term_end = 1959

| death_cause = mortar wound

| death_place = Mogadishu, Somalia

| occupation = {{Hlist|Politician|entrepreneur|businessman}}

| party = Somali Youth League (SYL)

| otherparty = Maanifeesto

| image = Haji Muse Boqor (cropped).jpg

}}

Haji Muse Boqor Osman ({{Langx|so|Xaaji Muuse Boqor}}; {{Langx|ar|حاجي موسى بوقور}}; 1911–1991) was a politician, businessman, and Somalia's president-in-waiting following the assassination of President Sharmarke. He was the son of Boqor Osman and served as the first Minister of Interior Affairs during the Italian Trusteeship of Somalia.{{Cite journal |last=Ingiriis |first=Mohamed Haji |date=2017 |title=Who Assassinated the Somali President in October 1969? The Cold War, the Clan Connection, or the Coup d'État |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48598936 |journal=African Security |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=131–154 |doi=10.1080/19392206.2017.1305861 |jstor=48598936 |issn=1939-2206|url-access=subscription }} He was also a member of Somalia's first Parliament.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-07 |title=XASUUS XAAJI MUUSE BOQOR CUSMAAN OO MUQDISHU LAGU DILAY 1991 |trans-title=THE MEMORY OF HAJI MUUSE BOQOR OSMAAN WHO WAS ASSASSINATED 1991 IN MOGADISHU |url=https://www.daljir.com/xasuus-xaaji-muuse-boqor-cusmaan-oo-muqdishu-lagu-dilay-1991/ |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Radio Daljir |language=so-SO}} Boqor was assassinated in 1991 in Mogadishu.

Biography

Haji Muse Boqor was born in Bargal, a town in present-day Bari, Somalia. He memorized the Quran at a young age. In 1929, he moved to Mogadishu to continue his education.

Boqor joined the Somali Youth League, a group fighting for Somalia's independence. During the 10 years of Italian trusteeship, he served in the cabinet of Premiership of Abdullahi Isse. He became Somalia's first Minister of Interior Affairs and held this position until the country gained independence in 1960.{{Cite journal |last=MOSLEY |first=JASON |date=2015-01-23 |title=PETER WOODWARD, Crisis in the Horn of Africa: politics, piracy and the threat of terror. London: I. B. Tauris (hb £56 – 978 1 78076 220 3; pb £14.99 – 978 1 78076 221 0). 2012, 240 pp. - CHRISTOPHER L. DANIELS, Somali Piracy and Terrorism in the Horn of Africa. Plymouth: Scarecrow Press (hb £39.95 – 978 0 8108 8310 9; pb £18.95 – 978 0 8108 8694 0). 2012, 254 pp. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0001972014000813 |journal=Africa |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=163–165 |doi=10.1017/s0001972014000813 |issn=0001-9720|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Kapteijns |first=Lidwien |date=March 2005 |title=BOOK REVIEW: Mukhtar, Mohamed Haji. HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF SOMALIA. African Historical Dictionary Series, 87. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/aft.2005.51.3.136 |journal=Africa Today |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=136–138 |doi=10.2979/aft.2005.51.3.136 |issn=0001-9887|url-access=subscription }}

Assassination and coup d'état

{{Main|Assassination of Abdirashid Sharmake|1969 Somali coup d'état}}

On 15 October 1969, Somali president Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was assassinated in the Somalian city of Las Anod by 22-year-old Said Yusuf Ismail, who shot the president seven times. President Sharmarke fell to the ground and died at the scene.{{Cite journal |date=2000-05-24 |title=Who Cares About Tarawa? |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.283.20.2626 |journal=JAMA |volume=283 |issue=20 |pages=2626 |doi=10.1001/jama.283.20.2626 |pmid=10847803 |issn=0098-7484 |last1=Breland Jr |first1=A. E. |url-access=subscription }} After the president's death, Boqor was in contention to become the next president. However, just six days later, on October 21, 1969, a military coup took place.{{Cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Daniel K. |date=2016-02-09 |title=Conflict in the Horn of Africa: The Kenya–Somalia Border Problem 1941–2014 by Vincent Bakpetu Thompson Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2015. Pp. 405. £29·95 (pbk) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x15000920 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=182–184 |doi=10.1017/s0022278x15000920 |issn=0022-278X|url-access=subscription }} The Somali Army, led by Siad Barre, took control of the government without resistance, marking the beginning of Barre's rule over Somalia.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2019-10-16 |title=Who Assassinated The Somali President In October 1969? {{!}} Saxafi Media |url=https://saxafimedia.com/who-assassinated-the-somali-president-in-october-1969/ |access-date=2024-10-23 |language=en-US}}

Detention and death

After the military coup, many politicians, scholars, and religious leaders, including Boqor, were arrested, being seen as potential rivals and a threat to the new rule.{{cite journal |last1=Ingiriis |first1=Mohamed Haji |title=The Making of the 1990 Manifesto: Somalia's Last Chance for State Survival |journal=Northeast African Studies |date=2012 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=72–74 |jstor=41931314 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41931314 |access-date=15 January 2025 |issn=0740-9133}} After his release, he became one of the 114 members of the "Manifesto Group", which signed a peace agreement aimed at ending fighting between Siad Barre's government and United Somali Congress (USC) militias in Mogadishu.

On January 5, 1991, Boqor was killed by mortar shelling in the Kaaraan District.