Admiral Mohamed Omar Osman, leader of the ONLF, was born in the Ogaden Region in 1940 and received his basic primary education in that region. Afterward, he moved to Mogadishu where he received the secondary-stage education.
He was sent on a course to Egypt where he graduated from the Cairo-based university. Then he traveled to the Soviet Union to complete his military study.
He was appointed as member of the central committee of the ruling Somali Socialist Party in the middle of the 70s, then chief of the party's political bureau .Afterward, he was appointed as commander of the Somali naval forces and promoted to the rank of admiral.
After the collapse of the central government in Somalia in 1991, he returned to the Ogaden Region and was chosen in 1998 by the Ogaden Diaspora as leader of the ONLF, a position that he has held to date. He had traveled to the Ogaden region on many occasions to met with the armed wing of the ONLF and the inhabitants of the region. He currently travels between around the globe to meet with the Ogaden Diaspora that are scattered in the United states, Canada Europe, Australasia and Africa.
