Prometheus 6

Despite the flicker of optimism, huge challenges remain. Somalia is a land of blown opportunities; 13 previous attempts at forming an effective transitional government have failed.

Wrong.

Twelve previous attempts failed. At most. One was destroyed by a U.S.ofA.-inspired and supported invasion.

With the selection of Sheik Sharif, Somalia has come nearly full circle to where it was in the summer of 2006, when an Islamist alliance seized control of Mogadishu and pacified it for the first and only time since the country’s central government imploded in 1991. Sheik Sharif was one of the leaders of that alliance, which was a mix of moderate and hard-line elements, including the Shabab.

And you know this.

Somalis Cheer the Selection of a Moderate Islamist Cleric as President
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MOHAMED IBRAHIM

NAIROBI, Kenya — Pumped-up mobs poured into the scarred streets of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, once again on Saturday, but this time they were demonstrating in support of the government, not against it.

Thousands of cheerful Somalis sang, whistled and hoisted up posters of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the moderate Islamist cleric who was just selected as the beleaguered country’s new president. There was even a pro-government rally at a Mogadishu soccer stadium.

“It’s good to give a chance to the Islamists,” said Mohamed Wehlie, a teacher in Mogadishu. Sheik Sharif, he said, “is the sort of man who can make a change, and we really need a change.”

To many Somalis who have survived relentless cycles of rebellion, displacement, famine and war, Sheik Sharif’s victory was the best news they had heard in years. Although the government he leads is locked in a battle against hard-line Islamist militias, which still control large parts of the country, many Somalis seized on the news as a window of hope, a possible path out of the violence.

The exit in December of the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, an unreformed warlord widely reviled for his warlike ways, and the selection of Sheik Sharif, 45, a cleric who is generally respected as being scholarly and temperate, are seen as an opportunity to bring together Somalia’s warring factions and end 18 years of chaos.

The Somali Parliament, after an all-night session in neighboring Djibouti, voted overwhelmingly for Sheik Sharif early Saturday morning.

Several moderate Islamist militias, who control different parts of the country, including some neighborhoods in Mogadishu, have indicated that they will throw their military muscle behind Sheik Sharif and will fight to keep him in power.