Mohamed Hussein Roble has been appointed the new Prime Minister of Somalia / Image credit :  twitter.com/MohamedHRoble

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed  has appointed a new prime minister and announced plans for national elections in the horn-of-Africa nation.  President Mohamed appointed Mohamed Hussein Roble as PM. Roble studied civil engineering and previously worked for the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency.  Roble replaces Hassan Ali Khaire was removed from his post in July after Parliament deemed him unfit for office.  Khaire, a dual Somali-Norwegian citizen, was appointed prime minister on Feb. 23, 2017 by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo.   There were reports that Khaire has been in a contentious dispute with President Mohamed over when to hold Somalia’s national elections.  President Mohamed has instructed  Roble to form a new government to lead the country through the transition period as Somalia prepares for the 2020/2021 general elections. Somalia’s international backers had hoped to hold the first one-person, one-vote election since the war began, but it is unclear whether that will be possible, according to Reuters. 

Jihadist  group Al-Shabaab Remains Threat To Somalia Security: UN Envoy

Credit: Gary Raynaldo /  ©Diplomatic Times  /  James Swan, head of the United Nations Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), speaks at the International Peace Institute forum in New York City February 25, 2020  discussion of Somalia’s recent progress and immediate future.

Meanwhile, terrorist, jihadist  group Al-Shabaab retains the ability to conduct large scale attacks in the Horn of Africa nation Somalia’s capital city Mogadishu.  James Swan, head of the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), warned the UN Security Council in February that Al-Shabaab remains a dangerous, unrestrained threat.  “2020 has the potential to be a trans-formative year for Somalia. Last October at the Somalia Partnership Forum, Somalia and its international partners agreed the main priorities on which Somalia ‘must not fail’ in 2020. These include achieving debt relief, holding one person one vote elections, finalising the federal constitution, advancing the fight against al-Shabaab, and consolidating the federal state.”