Political outsider tasked with rebuilding Somalia

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday became the first leader to be chosen from inside Somalia since President Said Barre was overthrown by warlords in 1991.

Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, president of the outgoing U.N.-backed interim administration, accepted defeat and called the election free and fair. But adding democratic to that description is still a mighty task.

The country’s security situation dominated the campaign, and it was this that meant Mohamud was chosen by parliamentarians elected not by the people but by elders.

This may make his unexpected victory more remarkable. Abdirashid Hashi, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, described him to the Associated Press as an outsider who nobody thought stood a chance of winning.

The situation in Somalia has improved somewhat in the last year. Mogadishu has seen its economic and cultural activity increase since the al-Qaida-backed Al-Shabaab insurgents were forced out of the capital in August 2011.

The Islamists have lost significant ground since then, and though they threatened to disrupt the election, they did not follow through.

But they still control the city of Kismayo in the far south, and elsewhere pirates still control some territory and hold considerable power. A U.N. report highlighting the protection of a pirate leader by the outgoing administration highlights the level of influence they have.

The same report, as well as another by the World Bank, highlighted other corruption, saying that 70 percent of state funds simply went missing.

It is in this environment that Mohamud, a former professor and activist with non-governmental organizations such as UNICEF, must seek to rebuild his country.

History is against him: Since Barre was ousted, the country has had more than a dozen new leaders.

But Mohamud proved with his victory that there is hope, even when the chances are slim.

And it is hope that he cited after his victory.

“I hope that the problems of Somalia will come to an end and Somalia will now turn a new page, and that page will be written with good history rather than bad history,” he said.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)