Somalia to get new president on Sunday

First Published 2004-10-08, Last Updated 2004-10-08 13:58:26

Somali lawmakers to elect new president from 28 candidates after more than 10 years without effective government.

By Ali Musa Abdi - NAIROBI

After more than 10 years without an effective central government, Somalia is to get a new president on Sunday, when members of the recently inaugurated Somali parliament, which sits in the Kenyan capital, elect him in a sports stadium.

Among the 28 candidates is Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, who was elected president of the anarchic country's Transitional National Government in 2000 by a previous legislature, but who never managed to exert authority far beyond a few pockets of the battle-scarred capital, Mogadishu.

"My leadership was resisted by factions, armed by countries who don't want peace in Somalia, but if you elect me now in the presence of all factions, my government will task itself with rebuilding Somalia," Salat told the MPs on Thursday.

"I was unable to fulfill some of my duties, and apologise to the MPs, but promise an efficient political platform that will redevelop Somalia with the help of friendly countries," Salat added.

The goverment that will be formed by the prime minister, immediately appointed by the next president, will be the fourth of its kind to be set up outside Somalia by peace conferences since 1991, when the last central government the Horn of Africa country has known, led by dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, was toppled.

In 1991 warlord Ali Mahdi Mohamed, currently not active in politics, was nominated interim president by two peace parleys in Djibouti, while a lengthy conference, also held in Djibouti in 2000, produced a parliament that named Salat as an interim president for three years.

Sunday's election is the culmination of two difficult years of talks in Kenya, which differed from their predecessors in that they included most of the warlords who battled for control of various parts of Somalia since Barre's fall.

More than half of the original 60 presidential candidates dropped out of this race after a 2,000 dollar (1,600 euros) fee was demanded of potential runners.

"Gender equality would be my priority in order to promote democracy and harmony in the Somali society, where women are treated less well than they deserve, as the majority bread winners in Somalia today," the only woman runner, Asha Ahmed Abdalla, said this week.

Since under power-sharing deals the jobs of president and prime minister must be distributed between two of Somalia's four largest clans, the Hawiye and Darod, there are clear frontrunners in the race for the head of state.

As well as Salat (Hawiye), they are Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (Darod), the current president of Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in the northeast; and former finance minister Abdullahi Mohamud Addow (Hawiye).

Several leaders of armed factions are also trying their luck: Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, Hussein Mohamed Aidid, Musa Sudi Yalahow, Mohamed Omar Habeb and Mohamed Hussein Addow. Each control pockets of Mogadishu.

Abdurahman Jama Barre, who served for many years in the ousted government of his half-brother Siad Barre, and wealthy businessman Sheikh Mohamed Yassin are also vying for the top seat.

The speaker of the new parliament, Sharif Hassan Aden, urged the presidential candidates "to campaign politely and avoid attacking each other."

The four major clans each have 61 MPs in the assembly while 31 seats are reserved for minorities.

The MPs will cast their votes by secret ballot on Sunday. In the likely event of no candidate winning more than two-thirds of the ballot, the top six runners will go to a second round and then, if none of them win a two-thirds majority, a third round will be held with just two candidates on a simple majority basis.