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Somalia: A new parliament, presidential elections due in the coming weeks
Members of a new parliament in Somalia are being sworn in, presidential elections are to be held in the coming weeks.
The mandate for Somalia’s U.N. mandate ended Monday, the day by which international backers had hoped a new presidential election would be held. But the election of a new, 275-member parliament has lagged behind schedule.
Elections for a speaker of parliament and president are still several days away.
Somalia has been without a fully functioning government since 1991. The African Union hopes the current political changes will help seat a government that can provide services to the people.
Massive steps forward have been made recently in Somalia, with greatly improved security in the capital Mogadishu, and members of the diaspora returning to invest in their war-ravaged homeland.
A military advance by African Union has driven the al-Qaida linked al-Shabaab insurgents from a string of key bases in recent months.