Shukri Haji Ismail

Shukri Haji Ismail
شكري حاجي اسماعيل
Minister of Environment and Rural Development
In office
25 June 2013[1] – December 2024
PresidentAhmed Mohamed Mohamoud
Muse Bihi Abdi
Preceded byMahamoud Said Mahamoud (Gacamey)
Succeeded byAbdillaahi Osman Jama (Geel-jire)
Personal details
Born
Hargeisa, Somaliland
PartyPeace, Unity, and Development Party
Children1
Residence(s)Hargeisa, Somaliland

Shukri Haji Ismail Bandare (Somali: Shukri Xaaji Ismaaciil Baandare) is a Somali politician, who was serving as the Minister of Environment and Rural Development of Somaliland.[2][3]

Biography

Shukri was born in Hargeisa as the daughter of Haji Ismail Bandare, and she had seven sisters.[4] She was from the Habar Yoonis clan, specifically the Ali Sa’id sub-clan.[5] Their father, who was strongly committed to educating his daughters, ensured that all of them received schooling.[4]

After completing her primary education in Hargeisa, Shukri passed the entrance examination for the Burco Girls' School, a boarding school in Burao established by the British colonial authorities, which drew pupils from across British Somaliland and was known for its high educational standards and the care it provided for its students.[4]

Shukri completed her schooling in Burao in 1964, by which time British Somaliland had merged with Italian Somaliland and become independent as Somalia; she then moved to the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, where she began studying nursing through a UNICEF scholarship, and among her teachers was Dr. Edna Adan Ismail. In addition to nursing, she also acquired skills in midwifery, and three years later she completed her nursing education. After graduating, Shukri first worked in Burao, and later served at a maternal and child health center in Hargeisa as well as at the Digfeer Hospital in Mogadishu.[4]

While she was working in the capital, she travelled to Saudi Arabia to visit relatives, including an uncle who were performing the Hajj, and on her uncle's advice she began working there; in Saudi Arabia she married the diplomat Hussein Ahmed Nur and accompanied her husband to postings in countries such as Yemen, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.[4] After that, Somalia's economic situation deteriorated, and the Government had begun to adopt austerity measures, with the closure of some relatively less essential Somalia embassies overseas.[6] In 1981 Shukri's husband was among the diplomats recalled to Somalia, but he resigned from his post and he and Shukri returned to the United Arab Emirates, where they both took up employment again.[4]

In 1988, as fighting broke out in northern Somalia (the former British Somaliland) and the Somali National Movement (SNM) came into open conflict with the central government. Shukri and her family left the United Arab Emirates for the United States as refugees, facing pressure and accusations from Somalia embassies that they were providing financial support to the SNM.[4]

Return to Somaliland

In 1993 Shukri returned to Hargeisa via Kalabaydh and began looking for ways to work in the fields of education and health, but her efforts were soon interrupted when civil conflict broke out again in Somaliland. To avoid the conflict, Shukri moved to Oodweyne.[4]

In late 1995 Shukri became one of the founders of Candlelight, an organization aimed at improving education and health, and she became its chairperson.[7] In 1997, as civil conflict in Somaliland came to an end, Candlelight added environmental issues to its programme of activities, and Shukri worked in the new focus.[4]

National Electoral Commission

In 2002 Shukri became one of the seven members of the first Somaliland National Electoral Commission, and serving until 2007.[8]

In Somaliland’s first presidential election, held on 14 April 2003, the National Electoral Commission finished tabulating more than 488,000 votes, the results showed that the acting president, Dahir Riyale Kahin of the United Democratic People’s Party (UDUB), had finished just 80 votes ahead of opposition candidate Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" of the Kulmiye party. Shukri later recalled that she was shocked by the narrow margin and that Kulmiye supporters outside NEC headquarters were already in a celebratory mood, convinced their candidate had won; she and her colleagues feared that if they did not announce the results quickly, people would suspect them of manipulating the count and that they "would not leave the building alive."[9]

Environment Minister

In June 2013, Somaliland president Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" carried out a cabinet reshuffle, dismissing Mahamoud Said Mahamoud (Gacamey) as Minister of Environment and appointing Shukri in his place.[10]

On 14 December 2017, newly elected president Muse Bihi Abdi announced his first cabinet.[11][12] Shukri was reappointed to the same portfolio of Minister of Environment and Rural Development alongside the foreign minister, Saad Ali Shire. The former interior minister, Yasin Haji Mohamoud "Faratoon", remained in the cabinet as Minister of Education, meaning that only three of the twenty-three ministers had previously served as ministers in Silanyo's last cabinet.[13]

In August 2018, the Ministry of Environment and Rural Development, in partnership with UNDP, launched a public awareness campaign to reduce charcoal production and consumption and curb deforestation across Somaliland. Speaking at the launch event in Hargeisa, Shukri said that learning about the environment and sharing ideas on how to protect it was the main focus of the national campaign.[14]

In August 2019, Oxfam highlighted Shukri as Somaliland’s Minister of Environment and Rural Development who was tackling the impacts of climate change, including recurrent droughts, and as one of the founders of the environmental organization Candlelight, which had been working in partnership with Oxfam since the mid-1990s.[15]

In December 2021, Shukri warned that plastic bags were causing severe damage to the environment and were being imported into Somaliland illegally, and she called on the public to eradicate both the use and importation of plastic bags altogether.[16]

In May 2023, Shukri attended the opening ceremony of a factory in Hargeisa that processes the invasive tree mesquite (Garan-waaga) into charcoal, livestock feed and even food products for human consumption. Speaking at the event, she said that, as the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, they warmly welcomed such domestically financed factories that provide alternative resources.[17]

In July 2023, Shukri announced that the government would soon inaugurate a domestically owned factory to produce a new type of plastic bag that interacts with the soil and has a shorter lifespan than conventional bags, explaining that these bags were intended to replace the banned imported plastic bags that had previously harmed the environment.[18]

On 14 December 2024, newly elected Somaliland president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi "Irro" appointed Abdillaahi Osman Jama (Geel-jire) as Minister of Environment and Climate Change.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Somaliland: President Silanyo Unveils A Major Reshuffle To His Cabinet". Midnimo. 2013-06-25. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  2. ^ "Somaliland launches public awareness campaign to reduce charcoal use and protect the environment". UNDP Somalia. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  3. ^ "PENHA Hosts Shukri Haji Ismail: Somalilands Minister Environment and Rural Development". Penha Network. 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sanwilwilo, Ahmed (19 August 2025). "Shukri Baandare "Qoriga dhig oo qalinka qaado"" [Shukri Baandare: Put down the gun and take up the pen]. Geeska (in Somali). Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Xubnaha Wasiirada Cusub Ee Madaxwayne Siilaanyo Magacaabay Habeen Hore Iyo Beelaha Ay Ka Soo Kala Jeedaan" [New Ministers Appointed by President Silanyo and Their Clan Affiliation] (in Somali). Haatuf. 26 June 2013.
  6. ^ Somalia: Report of a Joint UNDP/World Bank Technical Cooperation Assessment Mission (PDF) (Report). World Bank. October 1985. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  7. ^ "Perspectives Africa: Women and Land Rights" (PDF). Heinrich Böll Stiftung. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  8. ^ "NEC Commissioners" [NEC Commissioners]. Somaliland National Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  9. ^ "Nurturing Democracy in the Horn of Africa: Somaliland's First Elections, 2002–2005" (PDF). Princeton University, Innovations for Successful Societies. 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  10. ^ "Madaxweynaha Somaliland oo isku-shaandheeyay Golihiisa Wasiirrada qaar cusubna keenay kuwo kalana isku bedelay" [Somaliland president reshuffles his cabinet, appointing new ministers and reassigning others]. Hiiraan Online (in Somali). 25 June 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  11. ^ "Deegaanada Ay Kasoo Kala Jeedaan Wasiirada Iyo Ku Xigeenada Uu Madaxwaynuhu Magacaabay" [The home areas of the ministers and deputy ministers appointed by the president]. Geeska Afrika (in Somali). 15 December 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  12. ^ "Madaxweynaha Somaliland Muuse Biixi Oo Magacaabay Golihiisa Wasiirada" [Somaliland President Muse Bihi Appoints His Cabinet Ministers]. Saxafi Media (in Somali). 14 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  13. ^ "Somaliland's new President Muse Bihi names 32-Cabinet ministers". Horn Diplomat. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  14. ^ "Somaliland launches public awareness campaign to reduce charcoal use and protect the environment". Horn Diplomat. Horn Diplomat. 12 August 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  15. ^ "Somaliland is facing climate change now – Shukri is taking action". Somaliland.com. Somaliland.com / Oxfam. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  16. ^ "Somaliland's minister of environment calls for eradication of plastic bags". Somali Dispatch. Somali Dispatch. 27 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  17. ^ "Wasiirka Deegaanka JSL Oo Xadhiga Ka Jartay Wershad Geedka Garan-waaga Ka Samaynaysa Dhuxul" [Somaliland environment minister inaugurates factory that makes charcoal from the Garan-waaga tree]. Wargeyska Dawan (in Somali). Wargeyska Dawan. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  18. ^ "Somaliland oo Hirgelinaysa Wershad Soo-saarta" [Somaliland to establish a factory to produce bags]. Qaran News (in Somali). Qaran News. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
  19. ^ "Wareegtooyin Madaxweyne" [Presidential decrees]. Government of Somaliland (in Somali). 16 December 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
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