Somalia Elects New President

After decades of upheaval, infighting and corruption, Somalia has welcomed their newly elected president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, with open arms it seems.

Somalia was finally able to have a proper, one person, one vote election this week, in which Mohamed – nicknamed Farmajo – was elected.

Farmajo is the former Prime Minister of the country. He served in this position for only eight month, between 2010 and 2011.

However, during his tenure as Prime Minister, Farmajo managed to get support from a lot of Somalis, as he took various positives steps for the country as a whole, including securing regular pay for Somali soldiers.

“If you look back at what he did during the short time he was prime minister, I think he could be the right guy,” Abdulahi Duale, a local form Mogadishu, told reporters after Farmajo’s win.

This is also not the first time that Farmajo has run for president. His first run was in 2012, which was the first presidential election in the country since 1991. However, he lost to former president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

During his victory speech, Farmajo said that this would be a new, unified beginning for Somalia, and that he would work hard to bring an end to the terror and disruption caused by the al-Shabaab militants, who control certain regions of the country.

“This is the beginning of unity for the Somali nation, the beginning of the fight against Shabaab and corruption [sic]” he said.

The fight against al-Shabaab will no doubt be the biggest issue Farmajo will have to tackle as he takes office. The jihadist militants have been terrorising the country for years, and have taken over various regions in the country.

Farmajo’s biggest task will be to reclaim those territories from the militants.