The president of Somalia has nominated a humanitarian administrator and former police colonel to become the next prime minister of the troubled Horn of Africa nation, writes Edmund Sandersin Nairobi.
Nur Hassan Hussein, who spent much of the past 20 years at the Somali Red Crescent Society, was praised as a neutral and respected leader. But it remained unclear if his selection on Thursday by President Abdullahi Yusuf would do much to appease anti-government clans in Mogadishu, the capital, still waging a civil war.
Mr Hussein (68) has been secretary general of the Somali Red Crescent, where he helped rebuild hospitals and provide emergency health services.
Dividing his time between Nairobi and Mogadishu, he twice escaped apparent assassination attempts in the late 1990s when militants grew angry over his handling of the abduction in 1998 of 10 Red Crescent workers.
His nomination was formally submitted to Somalia's parliament, which was expected to approve it yesterday.
Mr Hussein pledged to restore peace and work towards the reconciliation of Somalia's warring factions.
"Consultations will be my first priority, meeting with Somali politicians, elders and also our neighbouring countries," he told lawmakers in the south-central city of Baidoa, where the parliament sits.
Somalia has been without a fully functioning government since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Siad Barre.
Mr Hussein, who studied law in Italy and worked as a government prosecutor during the Barre regime, would replace Ali Mohammed Gedi, a professor of veterinary medicine plucked from political obscurity in 2004 to serve as prime minister in the UN-recognised transitional government.
Mr Gedi resigned in October after a power struggle with the president, allegations of corruption and a flurry of criticism over his administration's failure to restore security.
The resignation was seen by many as a chance for the government to reach out to critics, including factions of the dominant Hawiye clan and former fighters of Somalia's Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of religious leaders that controlled Mogadishu until last year.
The Islamic courts, which were accused by the United States of harbouring terrorists, were chased out of the capital in December by government soldiers and Ethiopian troops crossing the border to support the transitional government.
Islamic fighters, in turn, went underground, where they are waging a guerrilla war against government soldiers and Ethiopian troops.
Hundreds of civilians have died in fighting this year and about 600,000 have been displaced, mostly from Mogadishu.
Western officials said they were encouraged that the president selected a prime minister from outside the current government, a sign that it might be willing to adopt a more conciliatory approach. - (LA Times/ Washington Post service)