Canadian citizen named Somali prime minister

[CougarKing]

So now everyone is wondering if he'll take up the position.

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/587763

Canadian approved as prime minister of Somalia
Feb 14, 2009 12:56 PM

Mohamed Olad Hassan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOGADISHU–Somali legislators on Saturday approved the Canadian son of a former leader as the country's new prime minister.

They backed the appointment of Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke by 414 votes to nine at a meeting in neighbouring Djibouti, the United Nations political office for Somalia said. Sharmarke's father was a popular elected president who was assassinated in 1969.

Sharmarke, who holds Somali and Canadian citizenships, has held several UN posts over the past seven years.

He has degrees in political science and political economy from Ottawa's Carleton University.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed named Sharmarke on Friday as his choice for the position after the collapse of the previous government in December.

The men have the difficult job of bringing security and services to a country that has not had a functioning government since 1991 and nearly half the population is dependent on aid.

Ahmed was a key leader of the Council of Islamic Courts that ran Mogadishu for six months in 2006. He was ousted when Somalia's weak UN-backed government called in the Ethiopian troops in December 2006 to drive them from power.

Islamist groups including the powerful al-Shabab, which the U.S. State Department says has links to al-Qaida, responded by launching an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

Since Ahmed's election last month, he has vowed to part with his former extremist allies and pursue a moderate Islamic policy. But the insurgents do not recognize the government and have forced it to meet across the border in Djibouti.

Officials hope Ahmed's credentials with the insurgents along with Sharmarke's international experience and family history will all help unite Somalis. Former foe Ethiopia on Friday expressed confidence in Somalia's new president. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ahmed had assured him of his commitment to peace in Somalia and its neighbours.

"We are happy that we got such reassurance," Meles said. "We believe this is a major trend, a political trend among the so-called moderate Islamists."

With files from The Canadian Press

 

[KingKikapu]

Well there is a man that I don't envy.  Somalia is the land of rainbows and ponies.

 

[Infanteer]

You know your rule is sound when your confirmation is secured by officials sitting in another country....

 

[Yrys]

Somali prime minister sworn in, BBC News

President Ahmed is said to get along
with the new prime minister

The new prime minister of Somalia, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, has been sworn in
at a ceremony in Djibouti. Mr Sharmarke told parliament he would give peace and security
top priority. Mr Sharmarke, a former diplomat, is the son of a former president who was
killed in 1969 ahead of the military coup that brought Siad Barre to power.

Somalia has not had a stable government since his overthrow in 1991. MPs met in Djibouti
because Islamist militant groups control the capital, Mogadishu.

The new prime minister told the BBC: "We'll try to actually extend an olive branch to those
still outside the peace process." He added: "Secondly, we'll try to stabilise the country's
security, which I think is paramount... And third ... we have to bring the IDPs (internally
displaced people) back to their own homes, we have to try to bring most of the refugees
in Kenya and elsewhere back to Somalia."

Mr Sharmarke is widely seen as a bridge between Islamists within the government and
the international community. The BBC's Kevin Mwachiro says Mr Sharmarke's appointment
seems to have ticked all the right boxes.His father was Somalia's first civilian president and
is still fondly remembered. He is from the Darod clan, ensuring that the country's three
major clans are represented in the country's struggling leadership, and he also enjoys
widespread support from parliamentarians and Somalis living at home and abroad.

More importantly, he and the newly-elected president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, seem
to get along. Mr Sharmarke has a month to appoint a new cabinet, which will have to be
approved by parliament, and then there is the issue of how to deal with the radical
Islamist group al-Shabab. The insurgents have denounced the country's new administration
as being anti-Islamists.

But reports from Mogadishu say there have been demonstrations of support for the new
prime minister in the capital and elsewhere.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

First Kandahar, now Somali, the Canadian plan to take over the world is proceding well.