Background
Omar was born in 1960 in the Hamar Jajab district of Mogadishu, Somalia.
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Yusuf Omar
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He attended high school in the capital. Omar later studied French at the Somali National University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics.
Career
In 1990, he moved to Italy and pursued an advanced degree in anthropology at the University of Siena. Omar holds dual Somali and British citizenship. He is also multilingual, speaking Somali, Italian, French and English.
In a professional capacity, Omar has worked as a professional journalist for many years.
He initially was a correspondent with Radio Mogadishu from 1984 until the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in 1991. Omar thereafter served as a freelance reporter in Italy.
He later joined the British Broadcasting Corporation Somali Service in 1992, eventually becoming the chairman of the department eight years later. In 2012, Yusuf retired from his position at the British Broadcasting Corporation to run for political office in Somalia.
He subsequently presented himself as one of the potential candidates in the country"s 2012 presidential elections.
