Somali President Appoints New PM
Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Thursday appointed Abdiweli Mohamed Ali as prime minister, replacing Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed who resigned under a reconciliation accord.
"He has the personality and the kind of knowledge that makes him fit to become the prime minister," the president said in announcing Ali's appointment.
"I’m quite confident that he will be up to the challenge of the hard conditions our country is encountering."
Ali, a Somali-American, is a former deputy prime minister and former planning minister.
The speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who has been at loggerheads with President Sharif over the choice of the new prime minister, commended the new appointee.
"The president and I have confidence in the new prime minister and I also agree to his nomination. We need to put our differences behind us and take on the difficult tasks ahead," Aden said.
Political activity in recent months in Somalia has been paralyzed by infighting, notably between the president and the speaker.
"The country is under heavy pressure and needs people who are ready to work. I will form my government within days in order to face the difficult tasks ahead," Ali said after his appointment.
Ali, who has a doctorate in economics, taught at Niagara University in Buffalo, New York, before joining the Somali transitional government (TFG), a statement from the government said.
He has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard, a taxation qualification from Harvard Law School, and a master's in economics from Vanderbilt University.
President Sharif and parliament leader Sharif Hassan signed a deal in the Ugandan capital Kampala on June 9 extending their terms for a year, pushing back polls due in August.
The agreement also called for Abdullahi Mohamed to resign within 30 days and for the president to name his successor, subject to approval by parliament.
Before changing his mind on Sunday, Abdullahi Mohamed had initially refused to resign and his supporters staged two days of protests in Mogadishu that left at least two people dead.
Elections for president and speaker of parliament will now have to take place before August 20, 2012.
The TFG, which was set up in 2004 in Kenya and owes its survival to the international community, has been weakened by infighting among its leaders which has worsened as the end of the mandates approached.
Uganda, which contributes several thousand troops to the African Union's AMISOM force that is propping up the TFG, had expressed concern that if the infighting continued AMISOM forces might lose their recent military gains in Mogadishu.
Source: Agence France Presse
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