Ex-Somali leader Mohamud wins presidency to face conflict and drought
- Hassan Sheikh Mohamud wins presidency for second time in Somalia as it confronts Islamist insurgency, threat of famine
- Mohamud’s re-election was welcomed by bursts of gunfire on the streets of the city on Sunday night
Former Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the presidency again in voting by parliamentarians on Sunday in an airport hangar protected by blast walls from Islamist insurgents whom he must now fight for a second time.
The 66-year-old, who ruled from 2012 to 2017, reversed the previous election to defeat incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed by 214-110 votes in a third-round run-off whose result was confirmed around midnight.
“We have to move ahead, we do not need grudges. No avenging,” Mohamud said in his acceptance speech from the airport compound in the capital Mogadishu patrolled by African Union (AU) peacekeepers.
Supporters defied a curfew to pour onto the streets of Mogadishu, cheering and firing guns into the air.
The former education campaigner and peace activist faces a daunting task in the nation of 15 million people which is suffering its worst drought in four decades and has endured seemingly never-ending conflict since 1991.
Though just holding the election was a success of sorts, many Somalis were sceptical of any real improvement.