Tough task ahead for Somalia’s new prime minister

Editor's note: "Life in Hell" is a running GlobalPost series about life inside Somalia, one of the world's most failed states.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — In an interview at his Mogadishu residence, Somalia’s newly appointed prime minister called on the United States and others to “step up to the plate” and support his government in its efforts to combat Al Shabaab Islamist insurgents who threaten the country and the region.

The appointment of Mohamed Abdillahi Mohamed, a 48-year-old political newcomer with an American passport, was announced late on Thursday afternoon at a brief press conference convened by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed at Villa Somalia, the hilltop government quarter guarded by some of the 7,000 soldiers deployed by the African Union to defend the government.

This is the latest bid to bring stability to the world’s most failed state where the U.S.- and United Nations-backed Transitional Federal Government is fighting against Al Shabaab, a Somali rebel group with links to Al Qaeda.

“Security is the No. 1 priority,” Mohamed told GlobalPost as government officials milled about his house waiting for an audience the day after his nomination.

“For the government to function you have to be free of violence, you have to have a place where the community and the population can live without fear,” he said. Outside sporadic gunfire and artillery cracked and shook the hot afternoon air, a reminder of how little peace Somalia has enjoyed for the last two decades.

“It’s not an easy task, it’s not something we can overcome overnight,” he said. “But peace is everything, co-existing without violence is the target and we won’t compromise [on that].”

He called on the international community to be a partner to his government. “Now is the time to help the Somali government,” he said, “it’s not an option, it’s a necessity. We are dealing with Al Shabaab who are extremists and willing to take the war to anywhere throughout the world.”

Mohamed replaces Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke who resigned in September after months of wrangling with the president that stymied government, undermining both its reputation among foreign backers and its ability to fight Al Shabaab.

On Friday the U.N.’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, welcomed Mohamed’s nomination saying, “time will not allow for any further crises within the leadership of Somalia.” The interim government’s mandate is due to expire in August and in the meantime daily fighting continues to wrack the capital.

“Maybe war is inevitable but the policy of my government is not for war to be the first thing,” said Mohamed. “We don’t want to spill any blood, we don’t want to add any more destruction. This country has been in chaos for 20 years and a lot of blood has been shed.”

During those war-wracked years, Mohamed lived in the U.S. where he had moved in 1985 to work at the Somali Embassy in Washington, D.C. When the government of Siad Barre collapsed in 1991, he stayed in the U.S. with his wife and four children in Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked in public administration and taught at the State University of New York, the college where he earned both undergraduate and masters degrees. Before Thursday, he had only returned to Somalia once in 25 years.

Privately some officials complained that Mohamed, who is an unknown figure in Mogadishu, would be unable to find his way through the rough and tumble of Somali politics, which are riven with clan interests. “Where did he come from? Nobody knows him. He looks like a puppet,” muttered one former minister.

His first challenge will be to win the approval of a majority of Somalia’s 550 lawmakers and then appoint a cabinet. “Playing politics is unpredictable,” said Mohamed. “I will do everything in my power to convince our MPs why I am here, that there are no ulterior motives except to contribute.”

But vested interests and worse are at play among the politicians and Mohamed promised to tackle these. “We have to fight against corruption and the misappropriation of state funds and aid from friendly countries,” he said.

He said he would appoint a cabinet of about 18 members rather than the bloated 39-member cabinet headed by his predecessor and hoped to attract more of the educated Somali diaspora, people like himself who have lived abroad for years. “The only way to bring back a peaceful nation is not only to be a spectator but to be part of the solution,” he said.

Inside Somalia: 5-part series	Meet the president of Hell	Slideshow: Fleeing Somalia