MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud appointed on Wednesday Hamza Abdi Barre, a member of the Lower House of Parliament and senior official with his political party, as new Prime Minister.
Mohamud said he had picked Barre due to his knowledge and charisma to advance his government’s ambitious plans for the next four years and urged parliament to endorse him immediately.
“The President wishes the new PM utmost success as he leads the government’s ambitious reform agenda and calls on Somali people to render their unwavering support,” his office tweeted.
In a press conference at the presidential palace, Somali President ordered the new Prime Minister to move ahead with the implementation of the new administration’s priorities, including security, development and drought relief efforts.
Hamza Abdi Barre is the first Somali Prime Minister from the Ogaden sub-clan of Daarood and unlike his predecessors over the past decades, he is not from the Somali diaspora.
The new PM served as the Secretary General of the Union for Peace and Development Party (UPD) which is led by the incumbent President and once managed a disputed election that handed victory to Jubaland President Ahmed Madobe in 2019.
He was born in the coastal town of Kismayo in the early 1970s and completed parts of his formal education in Yemen. He has been living and working in Somalia during the last three decades of civil war.
Elected just a month ago, Mohamud named Barre because of their long-time and close friendship to avert political fissures that had undermined his previous term from 2012-2017 during which he appointed three Prime Ministers.
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