MOGADISHU, Somalia — In a fortified tent guarded by peacekeepers, hundreds of lawmakers elected a new president in Somalia on Sunday, capped off a violent election season that threatens to push the nation out the Horn of Africa to the breaking point.
The selection of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a former president, in Mogadishu ended a bitter election period fueled by corruption, the president’s attempt to cling to power and fierce street fighting. Mr Mohamud defeated three dozen candidates after three rounds of voting, including President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who was condemned after renewing his term last year.
The vote, which has been delayed by almost two years, took place against the backdrop of soaring inflation and deadly drought almost 40% of the country goes hungry. Streets in the capital Mogadishu were closed on Sunday and police announced a curfew until Monday morning.
Cheers and cheers broke out in the lawmakers’ tent after Mr Mohamud was declared the winner. Celebration gunfire was heard in many parts of the capital, according to witnesses. Earlier in the day, several loud explosions could be heard near the fortified compound where the vote was held, but it did not disrupt the process.
“Our country needs to move forward, not back,” Mr Mohamud said after taking the oath of office early Monday. “I promise to build a Somalia that is in harmony with itself and in harmony with the world.”
Mr. Mohamud, 66, will face a series of challenges during his four-year term, especially the strength of Al Shabab, a terrorist group that has taken hold of much of the country.
Somalia’s 16 million people have suffered for decades from civil wars, poor governance and terrorism. The central government has been supported by African Union peacekeepers and Western aid, including billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance and security assistance from the United States, has managed to keep so that Somalia does not become a haven for terrorists.
The president is chosen by 328 legislators, who are chosen by representatives of the clan. Mr Mohamud won 214 votes to Mohamed’s 110 votes. Several votes were wrong and an ailing legislator was exonerated.
Mr. Mohamud, who served as president from 2012 to 2017, was born in the Hiran region of central Somalia. As a peace activist and educator, he co-founded a college that became one of Somalia’s largest universities.
Mr. Mohamud succeeds Mr. Mohamed, a former US citizen and an official, who led the country for five years. Mr. Mohamed has been accused of suppressing the opposition and journalists, strengthens the rift with neighboring Kenya and cut back on the power-sharing model that supported the country’s federal system.
The Shabab, who have links to Al Qaeda, have exploited political instability and sharp divisions among the security forces arrive expand and gain strength, experts said. After more than 16 years, the group now has many powers: extorting taxes, adjudicating court cases, forcing minors into its ranks, and carrying out suicide bombings.
In the weeks leading up to the vote, the group murdered civilians, including at beachside restaurants, launched a massive attack on an African Union base – killing at least 10 people. peacekeepers from Burundi – and sent suicide bombers to jump on government officials’ vehicles.
In interviews with more than two dozen Somali citizens, lawmakers, analysts, diplomats and aid workers ahead of Sunday’s vote, many expressed concern about the lack of political conditions. The deteriorating political, security and humanitarian situation has reversed several years of stability achieved after Al Shabab was driven out of the country. capital in 2011.
“These are five lost years, years in which we lost the cohesion of the country,” said Hussein Sheikh-Ali, Mohamed’s former national security adviser and president of the Hiraal Institute, a research center in Mogadishu, talking about him. Mohamed’s presidency.
Protracted political battles, especially in elections, have undermined the government’s ability to deliver vital services, even when it has won, observers say debt relief and promote entry into the global financial system. Critics and opposition figures also accuse President Mohamed of trying to stay in power at all costs, putting pressure on the electoral commission, and installing state leaders who will help tamper with the election. and try to fill Congress with supporters using intelligence.
Last year, when I sign the law extended his term by two years, Fighting broke out in the capitalthe street, forcing him to change direction.
Observers say last year’s election of lawmakers was rife with corruption.
Abdi Ismail Samatar, a first-time Somali senator and professor at the University of Minnesota who studies democracy in Africa, said this election cycle could rank as the “worst” in history. Somali history.
“I don’t think I can imagine how corrupt and self-serving it is,” said Mr. Samatar, adding, “I have seen people being given money in the speaker election right in front of me. in the hallway. . ”
Larry E. André Jr., the US ambassador to Somalia, said that the majority of congressional seats were chosen by regional leaders, either “for sale” or “by auction.”
US imposes visa sanctions in February and Steps are about Somali officials and others accused of sabotaging parliamentary elections, the last of which ended at the end of April.
Because of the indirect nature of the presidential vote, the candidates did not campaign on the streets. Instead, they met legislators and clan elders in luxury hotels and cottages guarded by soldiers and blast walls. Some aspired to hang election billboards, promising good governance, justice and peace.
But few people in this coastal city believe that politicians will make good on their promises.
“Everybody was wearing a suit, carrying a briefcase, and promised to be as sweet as honey,” said Jamila Adan, a political science student at City University. “But we don’t trust them.”
Her friend, Anisa Abdullahi, a business expert, agrees, saying that campaigners are unable to identify the daily hardships of ordinary Somalis.
“They never made the people feel like the government came from the people and had to serve the people,” she said.
Given Internal struggle and paralysis of the governmentmany Somalis are questioning whether a new administration will make a difference.
Some Somalis have turned to Shabab for services that would ideally be provided by an active state. Many in Mogadishu regularly travel to areas dozens of miles north of the city to hear their cases in mobile courts run by Shabab.
One of them is Ali Ahmed, a businessman from a minority tribe whose family home in Mogadishu has been occupied for many years by members of a powerful tribe. Mr Ahmed said the court run by Shabab had ruled that the occupiers should leave his home – and they did.
“It’s sad, but no one has come to the government to get justice,” he said. “Even government judges will secretly advise you to go to Al Shabab.”
Traders pay taxes to Shabab, fearing threats to their businesses and lives.
Abdow Omar, who runs a flour and sugar import business in the capital, said: “While the government is busy with itself, we are bearing the brunt of the consequences and paying the militants about $4,000 a day. five. “Shabab is like a mafia group. You must obey them or close your business. There is no freedom. “
Some officials acknowledged the government’s shortcomings. Al Shabab has been able to expand their tax base because “elected officials are too busy with politics instead of doing policy work,” said a government official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Sunday’s election comes as parts of Somalia face their worst drought in four decades. About six million people are severely undernourished, according to the World Food Programwith nearly 760,000 people relocate.
Nearly 900,000 of those affected live in areas administered by Al Shabab, according to the United Nations. Aid organizations couldn’t reach them there, crops failed, and the Shababs demanded a cattle tax, according to interviews with officials and displaced people.
To find food and water, families travel hundreds of miles, sometimes on foot, to cities and towns such as Mogadishu and Doolow in the southern Gedo region. Some parents said they buried their children along the way, while others left the frail children behind to save others with more difficulty.
Afyare Abdi Elmi, executive director of the Heritage Policy Research Institute in Mogadishu, said dealing with Shabab will be one of the first challenges facing Somalia’s next government.
But the new leader, he said, also needs to come up with a new Constitution, reform the economy, deal with climate change, open dialogue with the breakaway Somaliland region and unite a nation polarization.
“Governance in Somalia has become too confrontational over the past few years,” Mr. Elmi said. “It’s like pulling a tooth. Everyone is now ready for a new dawn.”
