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Somalia: Presidential vote set to create first stable govt. in 21 years
Lawmakers in Somalia are scheduled to choose the next president Monday, moving the country a step closer to its first stable government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The new parliament, which was elected this past August, will hold a ballot to vote the new president from about two dozen candidates.
The United Nations envoy to Somalia, Tanzania’s, Augustine P. Mahiga, in a letter to lawmakers, called for a credible leader who can lead the battered country toward peace.
“After two decades of civil war, a collapsed state and innumerable indignities to the proud Somali people, we are hours away from the election of a new president,” wrote Mahiga.
“The event that will completely end the transitional period and move us toward a phase of political and socio-economic transformation. It has not been easy getting us to this point,” Mahiga said. “There have been moments when all seemed lost and we have sometimes been on the brink of despair.”
Candidates include incumbent President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who has been in power since 2009, and his prime minister, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali.
Barre was overthrown 21 years ago, sparking years of warring militias and a transitional government that has remained shaky at best. Over the years, lawmakers have met in neighboring Kenya and Djibouti because of lack of security in Somalia.
African Union troops are battling Al-Shabaab militants, an al Qaeda-linked group that until recently, controlled part of the south of Somalia.
The African Union the troops have driven the militants out of the capital Mogadishu, and normalcy has returned.
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