Tough exams for Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
A woman carries a water container at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Baidoa, Somalia, on February 13, 2022. Somalia is facing a devastating drought and hunger.
What you need to know:
- He has to deal with the Al-Shabaab threat, rebuild national institutions, reform a battered economy and see the birth of a new constitution that will define roles, functions and procedures of government going forward.
- Al-Shabaab, the militant group that attempted to assassinate him during his first term, has recently stepped attacks in Mogadishu.
- Recently, it bombed a security checkpoint, a camp manned by African Union forces and even targeted the venue of parliament where MPs had gathered to elect parliament’s Speakers increasing the security threat.
Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will have to contend with a basketful of issues, mostly problems, for the next four years, ranging from insecurity to corruption.
He has to deal with the Al-Shabaab threat, rebuild national institutions, reform a battered economy and see the birth of a new constitution that will define roles, functions and procedures of government going forward.
Al-Shabaab, the militant group that attempted to assassinate him during his first term, has recently stepped attacks in Mogadishu.
Recently, it bombed a security checkpoint, a camp manned by African Union forces and even targeted the venue of parliament where MPs had gathered to elect parliament’s Speakers increasing the security threat.
And as a reminder of the country's treacherous security situation, explosions were heard Sunday near Mogadishu's heavily guarded airport complex where MPs were voting for a new president.
Police said no casualties were reported in the blasts. Twin suicide bombings in March killed 48 people in central Somalia, including two local lawmakers.
Earlier this month, an attack on an African Union (AU) base killed 10 Burundian peacekeepers, according to Burundi's army. It was the deadliest raid on AU forces in the country since 2015.
The bloodshed highlights the security woes in the troubled Horn of Africa country, whose security plan is backed by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) that replaced the previous AMISOM force on April 1.
ATMIS— made up of troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda— is tasked with helping Somali forces take primary responsibility for security in a country that has been mired in conflict since 1991.
According to a UN resolution approving its creation, ATMIS is projected to gradually reduce staffing levels from nearly 20,000 soldiers, police and civilians to zero by the end of 2024.
The first Somali president to win a second term, Mohamud has promised to transform Somalia into "a peaceful country that is at peace with the world".
Al-Shabaab fighters controlled Mogadishu until 2011 when they were driven out by AU troops.
But they still hold territory in the countryside and frequently attack civilian, military and government targets in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
Meanwhile the country is in the throes of drought and food shortage, which has displaced a third of the population.
UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe unless early action is taken, with emergency workers fearing a repeat of the devastating 2011 famine, which killed 260,000 people— half of them children under the age of six.
President Mohamud will also need to repair the damage caused by months of political chaos and infighting, both at the executive level and between the central government and state authorities.
"It's really been a lost year for Somalia," said Omar Mahmood, an analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.
"This long-awaited election has been divisive. Reconciliation is the most immediate challenge," Mahmood told AFP.
The heavily indebted country is also at risk of losing access to a three-year $400-million (380-million-euro) aid package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is set to automatically expire by mid-May if a new administration is not in place by then.
The government has asked for a three-month extension until August 17, according to the IMF, which has not yet responded to the request.
Over 70 percent of Somalia's population lives on less than $1.90 a day.
The international community had long warned the Farmajo government that the political chaos had allowed Al-Shabaab to exploit the situation and carry out more frequent and large-scale attacks.
The new leader will also need to repair the damage caused by months of political chaos and infighting, both at the executive level and between the central government and state authorities.
But his biggest test yet will be slaying the dragon of corruption, a test he miserably failed during his first term.
Two of the three prime ministers he appointed were forced out because of disagreements with him, while two central bank governors quit their jobs as graft allegations swirled around his administration, claims he dismissed.
By the time his term came to an end, his administration was widely seen as more corrupt than any other that had come before, prone to wrangling over jobs, cash and power.
Harry Misiko and Abdulkadir Khalif, Nation Correspondent in Somalia, contributed to this report.
