NAIROBI, 15 October 2004 — Veteran Somali faction leader and soldier Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was sworn in as the new president of his Horn of Africa country yesterday, as his African peers urged the international community to bankroll Somalia’s emergence from more than a decade of turmoil.
Yusuf, who was elected in Nairobi on Sunday by members of his country’s transitional Parliament, beating 25 other candidates, was sworn in before several African presidents and thousands of Somali spectators crammed into a sports stadium on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Somalia’s own capital, the ruined, gun-ridden city of Mogadishu, was not considered safe enough for the ceremony or the election that brought Yusuf to the head of a Transitional Federal Government — or for the two years of negotiations that led up to both landmark events.
“In the name of Allah, I swear today that I will lead this country and the people of Somalia in justice, honesty and transparency, in order to solve the problems in our country,” Yusuf declared. “With the help of Allah I will follow the people’s wish and solve their problems. I will not be biased towards anyone,” he said.
If Yusuf manages to win widespread recognition across predominantly Muslim Somalia and abroad, it will be a first since Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, plunging the Horn of Africa state into a lawless battleground for competing warlords and their clans.
Previous attempts to reinstall a government through countless rounds of negotiations and peace talks have come to naught. The speeches of the assembled African heads of state were peppered with expressions like “great days,” “historic steps” and “new beginnings” but also tempered with warnings that without considerable financial and political backing from the international community and the whole-hearted participation of the Somali people, this umpteenth peace process will also ultimately fail.
“Today marks a milestone in the political development not only of Somalia but also the entire IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) region and the African continent,” declared Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. Kenya led IGAD’s mediation of the Somali talks.
“The cost of the 14 years of war have been enormous. More than 500,000 people have reportedly lost their lives, another two million have been displaced with 1.5 million live as refugees outside Somalia,” Kibaki added.
Since Barre’s fall, all the usual trappings of a functional state have crumbled. “Somalia is one country, one people, one religion, so what’s the problem?” asked Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. “The problem of Somalia crystallizes the African problem in the most dramatic way. The problem in Somalia is underdevelopment,” he said. “Now that we have reached this stage, I expect the international community to bring in resources... Somalia does not need talk, it needs money,” Museveni urged.
For Rwandan President Paul Kagame, this “new beginning for Somalia ... is not just a victory for the Somali people but the whole African continent.”
“The people of Somalia deserve an opportunity to rebuild their lives and nation, and this is the opportunity we have been looking for,” he added, urging Somalis to “put aside bitter rivalries and factional interests and instead pursue peace, reconciliation and development.”
