Somalia Political Scene!

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Where the Tragicomedy Lies in Somalia Political Scene?

Somalia Political Scene

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We get from the past to the present in Somalia Political Scene. So, please do bring our attention to any wrong information or any additional information you wanted us to cover in Somalia's Political Scene. Thank you.

The British Somaliland was a British protectorate during the colonization period in the Horn of Africa. It joined the Italian Somaliland to form Somalia. Then the united Somalia collapsed tragically.

The British withdrew from British Somaliland in 1960 to allow its protectorate to join the Italian Somaliland and form the new nation of Somalia. Somali Youth League is the party that led Somalia to independence and took political power until Mohamed Siad Barre overthrew the government in a coup in 1969 just few moths after another military gambler, Jafar Numeri overthrew the Sudanese government in May 1969. 1n 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed Siad Barre brought in an authoritarian socialist rule than managed to impose a degree of stability in the country for a couple of decades. Therefore, the military regime of Siad Barre collapsed early in 1991, and Somalia descended into turmoil, faction fighting, and anarchy. Somalia Political Scene became more bloody than ever in its modern history.

In May 1991, northern clans declared an independent Somaliland including administrative regions of Woqooyi Galbeed, Awdal, Togdheer, Sanaaq and Sool. Stable existence maintained.

The regions of Bari, Nugaal and northern Mudug comprise a neighbouring self-declared autonomous state of Puntland, which has been self-governing since 1998 but does not aim at independence; it has also made strides toward reconstructing a legitimate, representative government but has suffered some civil strife. Puntland disputes its border with Somaliland as it also claims portions of eastern Sool and Sanaag.

In 1993, a two-year UN humanitarian effort primary in the south was able to alleviate famine conditions, but when the UN withdrew in 1995, having suffered significant casualties, order still had not been restored. A two-year peace process led by Kenya under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), concluded in October 2004 with the formation of an interim government led by Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed as President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG)

The Somalia Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) include 275-member parliamentary body, known as the Transitional Federal Assembly (TFA). President Yusuf resigned in 2008 while UN-sponsored talks between the TFG and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) were under way in Djibouti.

In January 2009, following the creation of a TFG-ARS unity government, Ethiopia military forces, which had entered Somalia in December 2006 to support TFG in the face of advances by the opposition Council of Islamic Courts (CIC), withdrew from the country.

The TFA was increased to 550 seats with addition of 275 ARS members of parliament. As the first round of voting began, several candidates withdrew, increasing the speculation that the vote would largely be a choice between Nur Hassan Hussein and Ahmed. In the first round, Ahmed got 215 votes, Maslah Mohamed Siad 60 and Nur Hassan 59; Nur then withdrew his candidacy, thus likely sealing the election of Ahmed as president. In the final round of the presidential election, he prevailed with 293 votes. The expanded parliament elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed the former CIC and ARS chairman as president on 31 January 2009, at the Kempinski hotel in Djibouti. Subsequently on February 13, 2009, he nominated Sharmarke to become Prime Minster at a meeting in Djibouti.

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke is the son of the former President of Somalia, Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who was assassinated in 1969 and Ruqia Dahir Ali Boss, the daughter of a well known Somali Islamic scholar from the Mehri clan. He studied at Carleton University in Ottawa, where he obtained degrees in political science and political economy. Although his family is based in Virginia in the United States, Sharmarke holds both Somali and Canadian citizenship. He worked in diplomatic capacity for the United Nations in Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone and served as a political advisor on the Darfur conflict in Sudan. Before becoming Prime Minister, Sharmarke was Somalia’s ambassador-designate to the United States.

Sharmarke’s nomination was widely welcomed, with a spokesman for the moderate Islamic Courts movement describing him as an “honest” man who should bring about "positive changes". Political analysts are also optimistic about the selection. It is seen as a successful attempt to shore up support for the Transitional Federal Government both among the diaspora and within the country.

Sharmarke is considered someone who could potentially bridge the gap between the various currently competing for ifluence in Somalia, as he was based abroad and thus not tied to local politics. Sharmarke's appointment is also seen by some analysts as an attempt to secure the favour of the large Darod clan, whose Majeerteen branch both Sharmarke and the outgoing President of Somalia, Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed, are members of. On February 14, lawmakers approved Sharmarke as Prime Minster with a vote of 414 in favour, 9 opposed and 2 not voting. In his acceptance speech, Sharmarke pledged to encourage reconciliation and to create unity in Somalia. However, the Al-Shabaab Islamist insurgents who are currently waging war against the federal government condemned his appointment, with a spokesman for the group saying that "an unlawful camel never gives birth to lawful camel".

On February 21, Radio Garowe reported that Prime Minister Sharmarke had selected a new council of Minsters, reserving key posts for former opposition lawmakers. Before a meeting in Djibouti attended by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and a host of other Somali politicians and international observers, Sharmarke appointed Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, the Islamic Courts senior ground commander, as the Minister of Interior, and former parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, as the new Minister of Finance. Sharmarke also appointed the scholar, Mohamed Abdi Gandhi, as Minister of Defence, and three women as Ministers of Health, Family Affairs, and Rural Development. The new Cabinet easily gained a parliamentary vote-of.-confidence. Sharmarke and the rest of the federal government then relocated from Djibouti to Mogadishu.

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