Somalia: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: Transitional Federal President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali

In early 2002, Kenya organized a reconciliation effort under IGAD auspices known as the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, which concluded in October 2004. A transitional government, the components of which are known as the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs), was formed in accordance with the Transitional Federal Charter. The TFIs include a transitional parliament, known as the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), as well as a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) that includes a transitional president, prime minister, and a cabinet known as the "Council of Ministers." For administrative purposes, Somalia is divided into 18 regions; the nature, authority, and structure of regional governments vary, where they exist.

The TFG was established with a 5-year mandate leading to the establishment of a permanent government following national elections in 2009. In January 2009, the TFP extended this mandate an additional 2 years to 2011 and expanded to include 200 members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia and 75 MPs from civil society and other groups, doubling the size of the TFP to 550 MPs. Consideration of a constitution continues.

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected president of the TFG of Somalia on October 10, 2004. Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur "Madobe" was elected speaker of the Parliament on January 31, 2007. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned on December 29, 2008, and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected by the Parliament as TFG President on January 30, 2009. On February 13, 2009, President Sharif appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke as the new prime minister of the TFG, and Sharmarke was confirmed by the TFP on February 14. A new cabinet of 36 ministers was appointed on February 20, 2009, and approved by Parliament on February 21, 2009. Prime Minister Sharmarke restructured his cabinet on August 18, 2009, appointing several new ministers, including the ministers of foreign affairs and defense, and creating several new posts. This shake-up brought the number of ministers to 39. On March 15, 2010, the TFG signed an agreement with the militia group Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea (ASWJ) bringing ASWJ into the TFG. After growing conflict with the President, Sharmarke resigned as prime minister on September 21, 2010 following disagreement over the draft constitution and other issues. Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali American, was confirmed as the new prime minister on November 8, with a confidence vote of 297 to 92 in Parliament.

In February 2011, the TFG unilaterally extended its mandate by 3 years, from August 2011 to August 2014, without consultation with the international community. The international community almost unanimously opposed this action due to the absence of a TFG roadmap for securing the end of the transition and completing the transitional tasks outlined in the Djibouti Peace Agreement, and the lack of projected governance reforms. To resolve the political impasse surrounding the unilateral extension of its mandate, the TFG agreed in June 2011 to extend its mandate for 12 months as part of the Kampala Accord. This accord consigned the TFG to finish its transitional tasks and set up a permanent government by August 2012. On September 6, 2011, the TFG and representatives from Puntland, Galmudug, and the ASWJ signed the “Roadmap to End the Transition” toward political reform in anticipation of the end of the TFG’s extended mandate in 2012. This Roadmap set forward goals like working toward a permanent constitution, holding elections, and reforming Somalia’s 550-member parliament.

Two regional administrations exist in northern Somalia--the self-declared "Republic of Somaliland" in the northwest and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in the northeast. Several nascent regional authorities central Somalia—Galmudug, Himan iyo Heeb, and ASWJ-controlled territory—have maintained relative peace and order since 2011.

In 1991, a congress drawn from the inhabitants of the former Somaliland Protectorate declared withdrawal from the 1960 union with Somalia to form the self-declared "Republic of Somaliland." Somaliland has not received international recognition, but has maintained a de jure separate status since that time. Its form of government is republican, with a bicameral legislature including an elected elders chamber and a house of representatives. The judiciary is independent, and three official political parties exist. In line with the Somaliland Constitution, Vice President Dahir Riyale Kahin assumed the presidency following the death of former President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal in 2002. Kahin was elected President of Somaliland in elections determined to be free and fair by international observers in May 2003. Elections for the 84-member lower house of parliament took place on September 29, 2005 and were described as transparent and credible by international observers. Somaliland held its next presidential elections in June 2010. President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo (President Silanyo) was elected.

The area of Puntland declared itself autonomous (although not independent) in 1998 with its capital at Garoowe. President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole was elected by the Puntland parliament in January 2009. Puntland declared it would remain autonomous until a federated Somalia state was established.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Somalia followed a foreign policy of nonalignment for a brief period following independence. In 1970, the Siad Barre regime declared a national ideology based on scientific Socialism and aligned its foreign policy with the Soviet Union and China. In the 1980s, Somalia shifted its alignment to the West following a territorial conflict with Ethiopia over the disputed Somali-populated region of the Ogaden from 1977-78, in which the Soviet Union supported Ethiopia. The Somalia central government also sought ties with many Arab countries, and continued to receive financial and military support from several Arab countries prior to its collapse in 1991.

In 1963, Somalia severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom for a period following a dispute over Kenya's Somali-populated northeastern region (Northern Frontier District), an area inhabited mainly by Somalis. Related problems have arisen from the boundary with Ethiopia and the large-scale migrations of Somali nomads between Ethiopia and Somalia. In the aftermath of the 1977-78 war between Somalia and Ethiopia, the Government of Somalia continued to call for self-determination for ethnic Somalis living in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia. At the March 1983 Nonaligned Movement summit in New Delhi, President Siad Barre stated that Somalia harbored no expansionist aims and was willing to negotiate with Ethiopia over the disputed Ogaden region.

Following the collapse of the Barre regime, the foreign policy of the various entities in Somalia, including the TFG, has centered on gaining international recognition, winning international support for national reconciliation, and obtaining international economic assistance.

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