AfricaNews Monitoring Team
The Somali Parliament has endorsed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke as the country's new prime minister. He is a former diplomat who is seen as someone to bridge the gap between the Islamists within the government and the rest of the world. His appointment is the 15th attempt to resolve Somalia's conflict.
After a 414-to-9 vote in his favour, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, 48, took the oath of office at a session of the legislature in neighbouring Djibouti.
He and President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist leader who chose Sharmarke to try to broaden the appeal of his government at home and abroad, face the herculean task of bringing peace to Somalia for the first time in 18 years.
"I will continue to promote reconciliation and create a sense of unity among Somalis," Sharmarke said in his acceptance speech, according to the BBC.
"The Somali people are not interested in having a government which is beset by infighting instead of helping the people. And I will closely work with the Somali people and parliament," he said.
According to Reuters, Armed Islamist insurgents have declared jihad against the new power-sharing government, formed in a U.N.-brokered peace process in Djibouti. Some 1 million people live as internal refugees around the shattered nation.
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