Somali president says no quick fix for nation’s woes

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed sought to downplay soaring expectations of his new administration at his inauguration Wednesday, warning it would take decades to fix the nation’s many ills.
“Our government is facing so many challenges and even though I will be doing my best, I also want to make clear for the Somali public that due to limited resources regarding economy and forces of security, what we could do is going to be limited,” he said.
The president, widely known by his nickname Farmajo, officially took office last week, however his inauguration was held Wednesday in the presence of several regional leaders.
The ceremony took place in the highly-secured airport zone to avoid an attack by the Al-Qaeda linked Shabab group which has threatened a “vicious war” against the new government.
Farmajo’s election has been greeted with elation in a country desperate for a turnaround from decades of conflict and anarchy.
However he warned that there would be no quick fixes.
“Your problems were created during twenty years of conflict and droughts. A solution will need more than another twenty years,” he said.
“I directly request the Somali public to help work in resolving the basic essential problems in the coming years. If we address those the rest will be dealt with by the next governments,” he said.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, as well as delegations from Kuwait and Egypt, attended the ceremony.
In a sign of the challenges facing Farmajo’s administration, a car bomb at a busy market killed 39 people on Sunday.