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Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo
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by Abdi Bile
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Somalia’s president Shariff Sheikh Ahmed named the hotly contested new prime minister’s post late on Thursday, closing the political and rivalry window of wind and at last bringing a Somali-American statesman in the political arena.
Born in 1962 Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed known as Farmaajo or the sweet chess from the prominent Marehan clan of the Darood tribe replaces the son and rival tribesman Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, from the Majerten.
Prime minister Mohamed heals from the central region district of Abudwak in the remote arid land of Galgadud which borders Ethiopia but has little influence and prominence among his clan members and political actors such as Barre Hiraale, Abdirizak Issak Bihi and Mohmoud Sayid Adan where on the contrary his father’s name is widely known then his, the son of an ex civil servant worker at the Somali airlines company since late 1970s.
Mr. Mohamed a former Somali diplomat at the ministry of foreign affairs of Somalia was given his secret full colonel rank early 1980s as he was then promoted to the Somali Embassy in Washington from 1984 to 1991.
At Erie Community College Mohamed had taught leadership and conflict resolution skills, as he later became a member of the State University of New York and assigned his master’s degree in political science.
His critics say little can be expected from him as he knows less about a country engulfed by wars and emerging extremism but his clan’s popularity and a close kinsman to once powerful ruler Barre Adan Shire (Hiraale) may be touching back up that can trash the Islamic insurgents out of the country.
His nomination will meet silent reception mood from the semiautonomous Somali regions of Puntland as his critics say his first approach should include a sudden visit to the regions so as to justify his seat to the rival Majerten clan leaders including Puntland state president Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.
Mohamed is expected to get warm welcome from other clans in the position of the main Daarood including Dulbahante and Warsangeli due to not having historical rivalry and animosity.
Important international actors such as Mark Bowden, a top U.N. official with oversight of Somalia, said Mohamed’s Cabinet is expected to be smaller than the bloated group of politicians that Sharmarke had control over. Among officials in Sharmarke’s Cabinet was a minister of tourism in a violence-plagued country that sees only a handful of tourists each year.
The new prime minister will this week get his residence block including an office of six rooms and two bedroom house and a compound of 50 meters yard in the gov’t controlled few blocks of Mogadishu which is generally seen as corrupt, weak and ineffective.
Abdi Bile
Africa Fox
[email protected]
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