New Somali PM vows to eliminate corruption

Somalia’s new prime minister, Hassan Ali Khaire, has pledged to tackle corruption and said his government will marshal all effort to fight the vice, VOA reports.

Speaking at an official handover ceremony for the incoming finance minister, Abdirahman Duale Beyle, Khaire expressed his concerns about the need for Somalia to be governed on transparency principles.

Somalia is constantly listed among the world’s most corrupt countries and is on the top of the list of the Transparency International corruption watchdog.

The United Nations has in the past warned that vast amounts of donor aid and port revenues had been stolen while some arms shipments intended for security forces had been diverted into the black market in Mogadishu.

Aside from corruption, the new Somali government is struggling to assert its authority across the country as it deals with a devastating drought and terror from militants.