This Sunday, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made historical past as the primary particular person to be elected president twice in Somalia’s nascent democracy after a landslide victory towards the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, aka Farmaajo.
In a contest of greater than 36 candidates, each males made it to the third spherical of what was arguably probably the most aggressive election within the nation’s historical past. Finally, 66-year-old Mohamud gained and can now pilot the affairs of the Horn of Africa nation for the following 4 years.
In his first coming, Mohamud served from 2012 to 2017 as head of the Federal Authorities of Somalia, the primary authorities created after the tip of a protracted interval of turbulence that began in 1991.
The longstanding civil society activist and educationist had solely totally joined politics in 2011 when he based the Union for Peace and Improvement Celebration.
Formative years and profession
Born within the city of Jalalaqsi, within the central area of Hiiraan, Mohamud obtained an undergraduate diploma in expertise from the Somali Nationwide College within the capital metropolis of Mogadishu. He went on to get a grasp’s in technical training from Bhopal College in India and labored within the Somali training sector early on in his profession.
Within the Nineties, he gained a wealth of expertise travelling by means of southern and central Somalia, selling youngsters’s training within the midst of raging violence.
All through the turmoil Somalia suffered in that interval, Mohamud remained within the nation, in contrast to a lot of Somali leaders who sought asylum abroad.
When United Nations peacekeeping forces, UNISOM, left the nation in 1995, he partnered with civil society teams to spearhead reconciliation efforts to deliver the warring clan factions collectively.
He grew to become identified regionally for his involvement in resolving these clan disputes and is remembered for the position he performed within the negotiations in 1997 that ended the period of the notorious “inexperienced line” that had separated north and south Mogadishu since 1992.
Mohamud was a part of a neighborhood committee that efficiently managed to reunify town’s two halves, which had been managed by two highly effective rival clan strongmen – Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed.
Mogadishu residents nonetheless keep in mind the so-called inexperienced line and the many individuals killed as they tried to cross it. “It was a demise zone,” Mohamed Ahmed, a 69-year-old father of 5, advised Al Jazeera.
“It minimize off even shut members of the family however after the road was eliminated everybody celebrated, town got here again to life and I keep in mind Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was one of many individuals who helped us resume our regular lives.”
In 1999, Mohamud helped set up the Somali Institute of Administration and Administration, which later grew to become one of many largest universities in Somalia.
Entry into politics
Mohamud shaped the Union for Peace and Improvement Celebration in 2011 and, as its chief, went on to problem transitional authorities President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
In 2012, he was elected the eighth president of the nation, working on a platform of a brand new federal Somalia with full diplomatic relations with the remainder of the world after three a long time of warfare and successive transitional administrations.
His authorities inherited a number of duties, together with finishing the provisional structure, forming federal member states, preventing al-Shabab – the al-Qaeda-linked armed group is preventing to overthrow the federal government and implement its strict interpretation of Islamic regulation – and constructing a robust nationwide military that would make sure the nation’s safety.
However Mohamud was additionally capable of deliver regional leaders collectively to construct consensus on crucial nationwide points utilizing what he known as “nomad diplomacy” – the Somali cultural idea of elders sitting underneath timber to resolve disputes, forgive each other and lead their clans to coexist peacefully – to resolve main variations
“Nomad diplomacy may be very clear, straight to the purpose and has no read-between-the-line points,” he stated in a 2013 TEDx Mogadishu promo video.
In September 2015, he established a nationwide consultative discussion board that introduced collectively leaders of regional member states to forge an inclusive electoral course of. The discussion board was additionally instrumental in reaching main political consensus till it was dissolved by his successor, Farmaajo, who defeated him within the 2017 election.
After peacefully handing over energy to Farmaajo, he continued lively within the nation’s politics and began constructing alliances to return to the presidency.
Accusations of corruption
Mohamud’s first administration confronted severe criticism, accused of rampant corruption, media restrictions and abuse of energy.
In a single occasion, the UN Monitoring Group accused the administration of giving weapons to clan militias and al-Shabab. The damning 2013 report significantly alleged a conspiracy between the president and a US regulation agency, Shulman Rogers, to “steal public funds”.
It stated the Maryland-based agency conspired to divert the restoration of abroad property belonging to the central financial institution of Somalia. The federal government denied the findings
Yussur Abrar, who was governor of the central financial institution on the time, resigned. She had solely been in her place for seven weeks however stated she couldn’t proceed due to corruption issues.
In her letter to Mohamud, she stated: “From the second I used to be appointed I’ve been repeatedly requested to sanction offers and transactions that may contradict my private values and violate my fiduciary duty to the Somali folks as head of the nation’s financial authority.”
Returning to the presidency
Within the final two years, Mohamud has been fiercely campaigning to unseat Farmaajo who the opposition accused of “taking the nation again to dictatorship”.
In his election manifesto, he promised to construct “Soomaali Heshiis ah, Dunidana Heshiis la ah” (a Somalia that’s at peace with itself and at peace with the world).
In his acceptance speech on Sunday after being declared the winner of an election that had been delayed for about two years, he spoke in a reconciliatory tone from inside a closely fortified tent in Mogadishu and promised to construct an inclusive authorities.
After being sworn in early on Monday, Mohamud stood subsequent to his predecessor and stated: “Our nation must go ahead, not to return … We are going to resolve our issues utilizing our current legal guidelines, let’s not dwell on yesterday however take into consideration tomorrow.”
However the subsequent 4 years will likely be robust for the brand new chief who’s inheriting a trove of challenges together with the matter of al-Shabab, which has intensified its assaults and regained territories managed by the federal government lately.
He may even should construct belief in a rustic polarised by in-fighting between the federal and regional governments, in addition to sort out rising inflation and extreme drought that affects thousands and thousands of Somalis throughout the nation.
Throughout his marketing campaign, he promised to run an inclusive authorities obedient to the rule of regulation and to drive financial reforms that can end in a self-sufficient Somalia capable of feed itself.
However that could be a tall order, analysts say.
“Hassan Sheikh is fortunate, he’s the primary Somali president that bought a second probability,” stated Afyare Abdi Elm, government director of the Mogadishu-based Heritage Institute for Coverage Research.
“He has enough expertise and wonderful understanding of main points … [but] rather a lot will rely on how he manages the competing and irreconcilable teams/pursuits, excessive expectations of the society that need companies, and useful resource mobilisation.”
