Ali Said Abdella

Who was Ali Said Abdella?

Ali Said Abdella was an Eritrean rebel commander, politician and diplomat, who at the time of his death was serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea.

Ali Said was the son of a shepherd. He was of Afar ethnic origin. As a young man, he joined the Eritrean Liberation Front, a rebel group which was fighting for Eritrean independence from Ethiopia. He received medical and military training in Syria in 1965 and soon returned to Eritrea where he was an active fighter. By the 1970s he had switched to Eritrea's other rebel group, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front and, in 1977, he became a member of the politburo of that organization. He was the commander of Nacfa front when the city was liberated in 1977.

When Eritrea gained independence in the early 1990s, Ali Said served in the new government, becoming Minister of Internal Affairs. He was then appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry in February 1997. In October 2000, Ali Said was moved from his position as Minister of Trade and Industry to that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, switching jobs with Haile Woldense. He was considered to be a hardliner in Eritrea's continuing struggles with Ethiopia over the border, and was known as a proponent of stronger relations for Eritrea with Middle Eastern nations. He was a fluent Arabic speaker, and most of his overseas trips were to Middle Eastern countries. He also made an official visit to Russia in April 2005.