Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says Somalia’s factions can find peace, political Islam need not be violent and democracy can grow. Here’s his exclusive interview with the Observer
. Somalia regularly finds itself at or near the bottom of global rankings for corruption, poverty and state fragility.
into sparring fiefdoms. It was dangerous work. Several of his colleagues were assassinated. He recalls one day in 1998 when a group of militiamen beckoned him to enter an open doorway as he passed. A succession of “transitional governments” were established to keep the peace, though their control extended barely a few hundred metres beyond Villa Somalia. Demoralised, Mohamud and his friends started debating among what to do next. “We’d ask ourselves, ‘How many more years can we wait?’” Mohamud concluded he had few options but to enter politics. In 2010, he established Somalia’s first political party since the military coup of 1969.
The streets are cleared in advance for the president’s passage. At our destination near the fortified “green zone”, which hosts foreign embassies and the most secure hotels; two blocks have to be cordoned off by red-bereted special forces. Mohamud is speaking at the final day of a conference on Islamic education in schools and madrassas, which the government is sponsoring as part of an initiative to “reclaim the Islamic narrative” from al-Shabaab.
On the third day the president is late again. Sitting on the asphalt at the airport, Mohamud has been held up by calls with military commanders. This, his aides say, is typical: he is almost always on the phone, receiving battlefield updates and taking an indefatigable interest in the minutiae of the new offensive against the jihadists. It is a strength and a weakness. His predecessor showed barely a flicker of interest in combatting al-Shabaab , but Mohamud shows commitment to the fight.
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