Kamal Al Din Salah Explained

Birth Name:Mohammad Kamal Al Din Salah
Birth Date:28 May 1910
Birth Place:Cairo, Sultanate of Egypt
Death Place:Mogadishu
Death Cause:Assassination
Spouse:Amina Murad

Kamal Al Din Salah (1910–1957) was an Egyptian jurist and diplomat. After serving as a diplomat in different countries he worked as a delegate of Egypt to the United Nations in Mogadishu, Somalia, where he was assassinated.

Biography

Salah was born in Cairo on 28 May 1910.[1] He received a bachelor's degree in law from Cairo University in 1932.[1] Upon graduation he worked as a lawyer.[1] In 1936 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as a diplomat in different countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Japan, Syria, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and France.[1] In 1953 Salah was appointed by President Gamal Abdel Nasser to the United Nations Advisory Council in Somalia as a delegate.

His wife was Amina Murad, a sister of Hilmi Murad who was a politician. Kamal and Amina had a son, Mohammad Farid.[1] He was assassinated on 16 April 1957 in front of his residence in Mogadishu, Somalia.[2] He was serving as the chairman of the UN Advisory Council on Italian Somaliland during the incident.[3] Salah was posthumously awarded the Star of Somali Solidarity, and a street and a cultural center in Mogadishu were named after him.[1]

A Somali man was arrested and sent to prison for life due to his involvement in Salah's assassination.[1] The Italian colonists were also implicated in the murder.[4] An Egyptian newspaper, Akhbar Al Youm, claimed on 20 April 1957 that the murderers of Salah were from Ethiopia.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Mohammad Haji Mukhtar. Historical Dictionary of Somalia. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.. 2003. 978-0-8108-6604-1. 130. Lanham, MD; Oxford.
  2. Helmi Sharawy. from An Egyptian African Story. Asymptote. 16 November 2021.
  3. Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology. The Middle East Journal. Summer 1957. 11. 3. 292. 4322924.
  4. News: Al Shafi'I Abtadoun. Egypt and Somalia had warm relations in the past, but now it is lukewarm at best. 16 November 2021. Middle East Monitor. 14 July 2020.