Who is somalia president

Somalia was meant to choose a new president this month, culminating a complicated indirect election process that would also select a parliament. The president and the prime minister had each appointed a different candidate to replace the head of the agency, who was suspended last month after an agent went missing.

Under the agreement, the president's appointee will now take up the post in an acting capacity, while the man chosen by the prime minister will be given a different role as a state minister. A separate disagreement over who would head the internal security ministry was also resolved, the spokesman said.

Somalia has had only limited central rule since a dictator was toppled 30 years ago, and has never conducted a free election. The Somali leader came under pressure on Tuesday when two federal members states allied with him broke ranks and opposed the term extension. In a joint statement, Galmudug and Hirshabelle states ruled out any kind of term extension and instead supported elections based on the September 17 agreement.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble issued a statement shortly after endorsing the joint statement issued by the two federal member states. Roble urged all stakeholders to prepare for elections based on the implementation of September 17 agreement. In a call directed at armed security forces who split and sided with either the federal government or the opposition, Roble urged them to pull back to their locations and barracks, while urging opposition leaders to cease all hostilities and actions that could undermine stability.

Foreign diplomats in Mogadishu who already strongly opposed the term extension expressed relief after the prime minister took the decision to essentially oppose extension and support dialogue based on the previous agreement. The European Union Ambassador to Somalia Nicolas Berlanga also threw his support behind the prime minister and the two federal states.

This latest political shift comes two days after clashes erupted in the capital, Mogadishu, between soldiers backing the federal government and forces supporting the opposition. Mogadishu has been calm but tense since Monday, forcing civilians to flee from volatile districts to safer ones within Mogadishu and the outskirts. Forces from the two sides erected roadblocks and took positions in key junctions close to the presidential palace, the arterial Maka Al-Mukarama road and K-4 junction near the Mogadishu airport.

Somali security experts blamed the political stalemate for the split of the fragile army, which has been undergoing rebuilding, with training and mentoring from number of countries including the United States and Turkey.

Analysts say the election impasse has distracted from Somalia's larger problems, most notably the violent Al Shabaab insurgency. The al Qaeda allies were driven out of Mogadishu a decade ago but retain control of swathes of countryside and continue to stage deadly attacks.

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