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| Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, New Somali PM |
By
Stewart Bell
A
Somali-Canadian economist was named prime minister of Somalia on Thursday, a
key position in a government under pressure to rebuild, curb corruption and
subdue armed Islamists.
Abdiweli
Sheikh Ahmed, 54, studied economics at the University of Ottawa and worked at
the Bank of Canada but left a decade ago and has been at the Islamic
Development Bank in Saudi Arabia since 2010.
Although
he has no political experience, Mr. Ahmed was chosen for the position by
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. He must still be confirmed by a parliament
plagued by infighting.
“I
hope that I will fulfill the duties I am entrusted with, and if parliament
approves my nomination, I will swiftly name a high calibre cabinet,” Mr. Ahmed
said, according to the AFP wire service.
“I
hope that I will fulfill the duties I am entrusted with Mr.
Ahmed is not the country’s first Somali-Canadian prime minister. Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, a Carleton University graduate, held the post from
2009 to 2010, when he resigned. The notoriously fractious country has had six
prime ministers in six years.
The
current, internationally backed government that was formed in August, 2012,
faces some major challenges, notably the need for order and economic
development in a nation that has been lawless and isolated for two decades.
In
addition to confronting Al-Shabab, an armed Islamist group aligned with
al-Qaeda that wants to impose its authoritarian version of Islamic law on
Somalis, the government has a significant corruption problem.
“I’m
hoping that the naming of a new prime minister will herald the beginning of
real work by this government,” said Toronto lawyer Ahmed Hussen, who heads the
Canadian Somali Congress.
He
said corruption and impunity had to end and human rights abuses needed to be
addressed, particularly the country’s rape epidemic. The arrest of women who
complain of rape also continued, he said.
“So
those are the issues that we hope this new prime minister will deal with but I
am skeptical. I don’t have a lot of faith in this administration,” he said. “I
don’t think a new prime minister will really do much.”
According
to a resumé posted on the Somali news website mareeg.com, Mr. Ahmed served as
director-general of the livestock marketing and health agencies in Somalia
before the previous regime collapsed in 1991.
He
arrived in Canada in 1998 and earned a Master’s degree in economics from the U
of O, as well as a computer programming diploma from Algonquin College. He
worked as an international trade and development analyst before leaving in 2003
to work for the African Union in Nairobi.
Once
and for all this has to be eradicated
Canada
is home to the world’s largest ethnic Somali diaspora. Encouraged by a new
sense of security in the capital Mogadishu, many have returned to start
businesses, work for humanitarian agencies or serve in government.
But
while African Union forces have beaten back Al-Shabab, some believe the
government has backed off in recent months, allowing the Islamists to regroup.
The
resurgence has been underscored by several bombings, including one on Nov. 8
that injured a Somali-Canadian member of the Somali parliament, Sooyaan Abdi
Warsame. Four gunmen stormed the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21
and massacred 67 people. A Canada Border Services Agency officer posted in
Kenya was among the dead.
“We
feel a little bit now that we are more secure than before,” Abdurahman Adan
Ibrahim, a Somali MP and former Deputy Prime Minister, told the National Post
in a recent interview. “In a sense, yes, they have been defeated but at the
same time it looks like they are coming back .… Once and for all this has to be
eradicated.”
A
New York Police Department report on the Westgate attack said Al-Shabab had
recruited “radicalized” members of the Somali diaspora from the U.S., Canada,
Britain, Australia and Sweden. “The fear is that these trained individuals
could also be used to conduct attacks on U.S. soil or against U.S. interests
overseas,” it said.
Source:
National Post
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