Somalia's President Meets MPs To Drum Up Support For New Premier

 

Mogadishu, Somalia (TF.SF) - Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Somalia’s beleaguered president, has begun a series meetings with members of the Somali parliament, drumming up support for Mohammed Abdulahi Mohammed “Farmajo,” the newly-nominated prime minister of Somalia.
In what is pointed to be the last meeting held in Villa Somalia, the president called Tuesday for hundreds of parliamentarians to give a vote of confidence to the new premier.
The efforts by Ahmed come as Farmajo, who worked at the Somali embassy in Washington with the former military government, is expected to go to parliament Wednesday to appeal for approval from 550 legislators.
A parliament member told a local radio station that lawmakers backed the president's nomination of Farmajo. If approved, Farmajo will inherit beleaguered, corrupt and failed government institutions.
Insurgent group Al Shabaab, which struggles to topple the weak United Nations-backed government led by a former rebel, controls large swathes in southern and central Somalia including many parts of the capital city Mogadishu, while the government dominates only a few blocks in the capital.