By RFIPalled on 23-08-2019Modified on 23-08-2019 at 22:24
The president of the Somali federal government on Thursday appointed a new mayor for the capital, Mogadishu, who also serves as governor of the region, the Banadir. His predecessor succumbed to his injuries earlier this month, after being attacked by the jihadist Shebab group in his office. Taking over from the one who was nicknamed "Yarisow Engineer", and that was very popular is not an easy task. And the head of state chose a tough man, while reshaping deeply the staff of his security forces.
Like many Somalis, the new mayor of the capital has a nickname. It's called "Omar Finnish". His real name Omar Mohamud Mohamed is a well known warlord in town. Until the Islamic courts conquered the capital in 2006, he was one of the most powerful warriors in the region. Coming from the Hawiye clan, commanding a dissident faction of General Aidid's army, since the establishment of a central authority, he had converted to politics as a deputy in the various parliaments.
This is a radical change from the man he succeeds, the now famous Abdirahman Omar Osman, called "Engineer Yarisow". He was a civilian, a former refugee from the slums of London, where he had been elected from the Labor Party and a respected figure of his community. An optimistic and hard-working man, as described by his friends, devoted to the recovery of a collapsed city, corrupted by twenty years of anarchy.
It is now known that Abdirahman Omar Osman was killed by a woman, one of her counselors, blind, who was in fact a mole of shebabs. The appointment of a former warlord to his post, but also new leaders of the armed forces and intelligence the same day, indicates that the tone will change in the conduct of business in Mogadishu.
► See also : Six dead in the attack on the Mayor's office in Mogadishu
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