Mogadishu: Somalia’s new President Mohammad Abdullahi Mohammad on Thursday appointed a political newcomer as the prime minister, shortly before departing to Saudi Arabia for his first foreign trip since his inauguration.
Somali-born Norwegian national Hassan Ali Khaire, a former executive of British Energy explorer Soma Oil & Gas, was appointed as prime minister.
His selection is a nod to balancing clan interests in this Horn of Africa nation. Khaire is a member of the Hawiye clan, as is former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, whom Mohammad defeated in the election earlier this month. Mohammad is from the Darod clan.
Khaire also served as the Horn of Africa regional chief for the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group from 2011-2014. In June 2012, he was in a motorcade that was attacked by armed men on the Somalia-Kenya border, the Norwegian daily Verdens Gang reported. The incident led to criticism of the aid group’s security.
Mohammad, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, also holds US citizenship. His election was a key step toward establishing Somalia’s first fully functioning central government in a quarter-century. The international community has praised the peaceful transfer of power.
Somalia has a diaspora of more than 2 million people scattered by a quarter-century of conflict and drought at home. Many of the more than 20 presidential candidates held dual citizenship.
The new president has vowed to make security a priority in a country where Somalia’s home-grown extremist group, Al Shabab, still carries out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere. On Sunday, a car bomb in the capital killed at least 34.
Al Shabab earlier this week denounced Mohammad’s election, calling him an apostate, and vowed to keep fighting. Fighters affiliated with the Daesh also have emerged in Somalia.
