A month after his arrival at the head of Somalia, President Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud appointed, on Wednesday June 15, Hamza Abdi Barre as Prime Minister.

A 48-year-old MP from the southern state of Jubaland and a member of the president's party, Hamza Abdi Barre becomes Somalia's 21st prime minister, succeeding Mohamed Hussein Roble who held the post since September 2020.

HE @HassanSMohamud appoints Mr. Hamza Abdi Barre as the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia.

The President wishes the new PM utmost success as he leads the government's ambitious reform agenda and calls on #Somali people to render him their unwavering support.

pic.twitter.com/uYouD6PVNh

— Villa Somalia (@TheVillaSomalia) June 15, 2022

"The President wishes the new Prime Minister every success in the ambitious program of government reform he will lead and calls on the people of Somalia to give him their unwavering support," the presidency said in the statement formalizing his appointment.

Facing journalists, Hamza Abdi Barre said he was "very happy to have (the) confidence" of the president, referring to the "enormous task" that awaits him.

"I promise to work day and night to do my job (...) and I will form a high-level government," he added.

A new administration 

This appointment launches the installation of a new administration, a month to the day after the election of Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud for a second term as president, after leading the country from 2012 to 2017.

This election was expected to put an end to a deep political crisis that has plagued the country, delaying the elections for more than a year.

His predecessor Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, notably nurtured conflicting relations with his Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble as well as with several federated states, including Jubaland. 

Hamza Abdi Barre was elected deputy for Kismayo, the commercial capital of Jubaland, in December.

He also headed that state's Election Commission in 2019-20.

He previously served as secretary general of the Party for Peace and Development - now Union for Peace and Development - from its founding by Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud in 2011 until 2017. 

He was also an adviser to the Minister of Constitutional Affairs in the federal government between 2015 and 2019, after having been an adviser to the mayor of Mogadishu for a year.

A management graduate from universities in Malaysia and Yemen, the father of eight has also been involved in the education sector, co-founding the University of Kismayo and leading a community network aimed at rebuilding the sector after the decades of civil war that ravaged the country from 1991.

The new power in Mogadishu will have to fight the insurgency launched 15 years ago by radical Al-Shabaab Islamists, who remain firmly entrenched in large rural areas, and the threat of impending famine caused by one of the worst droughts in 40 year. 

In his inauguration speech on June 9, Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud also promised to work for "political stability through consultation, mutual approval and unity between (...) the federal government and the federal member states ". 

With AFP

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