The World Briefly

May 17, 2022

The Comeback Kid

Somalia

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Somalian lawmakers elected former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the country’s tenth president Monday, following a long-delayed vote as the Horn of Africa nation grapples with a major drought and an ongoing Islamist insurgency, CNN reported.

Mohamud defeated outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed – also known as Farmajo – and is the first Somalian leader to be elected twice as the country’s head of state. He previously served as the country’s president between 2012 and 2017.

The elections were delayed for more than a year because of a dispute between Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble over elections which ended up with Farmajo suspending Roble, prompting international calls for calm and fears of political violence.

The new leader will now inherit a country that is facing its worst drought in decades and dealing with rising costs of living, and an insurgency: Somalia for years has been fighting al-Shabab militants, an al Qaeda affiliate, which has been trying to topple the central government and establish a rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Mohamud had previously criticized Farmajo’s inability to quash al-Shabab, which has continued to launch attacks across the country, including the capital, Mogadishu.

Earlier this month, the militant group attacked a major military base housing African Union forces in Mogadishu, killing a number of Burundian peacekeepers.

This story originally appeared in the May 17, 2022 newsletter, All Hot on the Cyber Front.