New Somali prime minister sworn in, vowing reform
Yesterday Somalia鈥檚 parliament as the country鈥檚 new prime minister. The vote followed a dispute between President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden over whether lawmakers should cast ballots openly (Sheikh Ahmed鈥檚 view) or secretly (Sheikh Aden鈥檚). This weekend the , an apparent victory for the president. As Reuters says, the procedural issue merely reflected a larger power struggle between factions inside the government (as well as a between domestic and Ethiopian elements?), and likely the contest will continue.
Reuters also says that the parliament voted 鈥渙verwhelmingly鈥� for Mohamed, but that鈥檚 debatable: he scored 297 votes out of 392 members present. If around one-quarter of lawmakers were willing to reject him in an open format, how many more would have done so in a secret vote? Support for or opposition to Mohamed does not necessarily correspond to allegiance to either Sheikh Ahmed or Sheikh Aden, but as I鈥檝e said before, Mohamed enters his new position already undermined by the fact that large factions of the government opposed his appointment, and by the spectacle of a government that lost valuable time wrangling over how to fill a key post.
The New York Times reports on what lies ahead for :
鈥淲e will move with full speed to do the people鈥檚 business,鈥� Mr. Mohamed said Sunday. 鈥淚 will very soon form an effective and dedicated cabinet that will put the Somali people first.鈥�
President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who nominated Mr. Mohamed for the post last month, called the action a vote 鈥渇or change and renewal.鈥�
鈥淭his is a great day for Somalia,鈥� he said, and he called on Somalis and the international community 鈥渢o cooperate and collaborate with the new prime minister and his team.鈥�
[...]
Mogadishu residents have largely welcomed Mr. Mohamed, hopeful that he will be able to lead the country out of a morass.
Mohamed is starting off in a reformer role, assembling a smaller cabinet than that of his predecessor. Once that is finished, and now that the internal government conflicts about his appointment are officially over (though likely maneuvering will continue behind the scenes, for and against him), it will be interesting to see what he does next to deal with the conflicts in Somalia as a whole.
鈥� Alex Thurston is a PhD student of Islam in Africa at Northwestern University and he blogs at .
