Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail was the deputy prime minister and foreign minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 in the transitional government of Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

. He was appointed to that position on December 1, 2004 as part of a partial government formed by Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Ghedi. He lost these positions in August 2006 when Ghedi formed a new government. Unlike many other members of the government, Ismail was not a member of one of the factions which has fought for control of the country since the early 1990s. He was previously the foreign minister of Somalia during the mid 1990s.

Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail was the ex-Somali Ambassador to Russia under the Siad Barre

Siad Barre

Mohamed Siad Barre was the military dictator and President of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 1991. During his rule, he styled himself as Jaalle Siyaad ....

government. Ismail is from the powerful Dir clan, and from the Bimal of the Marka region.