IGIHE

Category: Rubrique

  • Former Ghana First Lady Blocked out Of Presidential Election

    {{The wife of Ghana’s ex-leader Jerry Rawlings, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, was Thursday disqualified from running in presidential polls over problems with her nomination forms, an official said.}}

    Candidates had until Thursday to submit nomination papers, but Ghana’s electoral commission said Mrs Rawlings’ forms were not properly completed.

    “Portions of the nomination forms were not properly filled by the National Democratic Party and the electoral commission’s deadline for filling nominations has passed today,” Ms Sylvia Annor, electoral commission spokeswoman, told news agency AFP.

    “There were major errors on their forms and they could not meet the deadline to rectify them hence the disqualification.”

    There was no immediate reaction from Mrs Rawlings or her National Democratic Party.

    Mrs Rawlings was nominated as a presidential candidate by the upstart political party on Saturday, highlighting divisions in President John Dramani Mahama’s ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of December polls.

    She had sought to run on the NDC party ticket, but was trounced in a 2011 primary battle by John Atta Mills, Ghana’s then-president who died in July following an illness.

    After being beaten by Mr Mills, she helped launch the rival National Democratic Party and had been flirting for months with a presidential run, while maintaining ties to the NDC.

    Her husband, a national icon who founded the NDC and has led Ghana both as a military ruler and an elected president, has sent mixed messages about his allegiances as regards the December vote.

    The polls are widely expected to be close and experts have said the NDC may struggle to retain power if Mr Rawlings throws his influence behind another candidate.

    The main opposition candidate in the race is Mr Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party.

  • Mitt Romney to Declare China a ‘Currency Manipulator’

    {{US Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has insisted that he would declare China a “currency manipulator” after entering White House.

    This is what previous US presidents both Mr. Obama and George W. Bush resisted doing.}}

    Despite intense pressure from Congress, this has caused speculation over Romney’s motivations.

    Is he serious, some international economists wonder, about carrying out an action they say could lead to a devastating tit-for-tat trade war and even, in the extreme, to an economic depression in the US if China reacted by no longer buying US Treasury debt?

    Some political analysts assume that Romney would simply forget his pledge once in office.

    Others say, “Don’t bet on it” – but they also advise paying close attention to the caveats Romney usually throws in when he makes the “currency manipulator” pledge, as he did Tuesday when he said that “if necessary” he would move from the symbolic act of tagging China as a currency manipulator to a concrete step such as slapping tariffs on specific Chinese goods.

    Romney’s advisers on trade policy say the point of designating China a currency manipulator would be to set a “new tone” in US-China relations.

    Romney would be putting China on notice that it either stop its unfair trade practices – such as keeping its currency artificially low to make its goods cheaper on the export market – or face US action.

    Advisers such as domestic policy director Oren Cass underscore that naming China a currency manipulator would not automatically lead to punitive measures. The designation would trigger a US-China dialogue on the yuan’s value.

    But it would be up to China, say Romney advisers, to avoid stiff US measures such as tariffs by taking actions such as letting its currency appreciate and addressing the theft of intellectual property.

    The risk, some international economists say, is that China would react in a very different way – for example, by beating the US to the punch and slapping tariffs on US goods, or by turning away from the US bond market.

    The Obama administration has followed a different approach than the one Romney advocates, pressing China through regular dialogue to allow its currency to appreciate.

    Obama said at Tuesday’s debate that because his administration has “pushed [China] hard” the yuan has appreciated 11 percent during his presidency, which is correct.

    The Obama administration has also imposed some punitive trade measures. Obama cited his 2009 action slapping tariffs on Chinese tires, and claimed his approach overall has saved jobs at home and boosted US exports to China.

    But economists generally pan actions like the tire tariffs, saying the trade-off for what Obama claimed was 1,000 jobs saved is higher tire prices for the US consumer.

    Some political analysts say Romney’s China-bashing serves another purpose: to deflect criticism from the Obama camp that Romney, the former Bain Capital CEO, built his wealth on outsourcing jobs to China.

    Obama followed that line of criticism Tuesday when he described Romney as “the last person who will be tough on China.”

    Former Secretary of State and Nixon-to-China architect Henry Kissinger may find, as he declared recently, that the campaign’s China-bashing is “deplorable,” but he and other voters can count on hearing more of it.

    Monday’s final debate of the presidential campaign, to be held in Boca Raton, Fla., will focus on foreign policy and will have a segment dedicated to the implications of the rise of China.

  • South Sudan Coup Plotters Warned

    {{South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit has warned the army from being carried away by rumours of coup attempts, saying any leadership that will overthrow his regime militarily will not be recognized by the international community.}}

    Kiir delivered the warning on Tuesday at the army’s general headquarters in Bilpam in his second meeting with the army since he returned from Uganda after the rumours of a coup plot.

    The Tuesday meeting included all SPLA officers residing in Juba from junior officers to the chief of general staff. Kiir on his way to Bilpam was guarded with huge heavily armed presidential guards packed in several army vehicles including an ambulant.

    There were serious rumours of a coup plot by unknown army officers, but Kiir told thousands of soldiers during the meeting that even if the coup plotters succeeded they would face difficulty getting recognition by the international community.

    He called on anybody who wants to lead the country to ascend to power through democratic processes.

    He narrated that the news about the coup attempt reached him while he was on mission in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, with both the minister of defence, John Kong Nyuon and the Chief of General Staff, James Hoth Mai, adding that it was the deputy minister of defence and veterans affaires, Majak Agoot who was in charge of the army at the time.

    The Vice President, Riek Machar, was also abroad in the United States where he was delegated to attend to meetings of the United Nations.

    Kiir told the army that the reports that reached him implicated Maj. General Simon Gatwec Dual as having links with the rebels of David Yauyau in Jonglei state. The general who is in prison, he said, will be investigated further to face the law if found guilty or acquitted if not found guilty.

    An intellectual from the Lou-Nuer community who asked to remain anonymous told Sudan Tribune that Maj. Gen. Gatwec, who was the deputy director for production at Bilpam, was used as a scapegoat to try to explain “the unknown” to the public, denying that he did not have any link with rebels nor did he involve in any coup plot.

    Rumours about a coup attempts have been talked of several times suspecting different groups, particularly from Jonglei state.

    The army, he added, should be vigilant and cooperate with the intelligence to communicate any strange moves, but warned them not to listen to rumours any more.

    On discontent against the Addis Ababa cooperation agreement with Sudan, Kiir said he did not intent to give away Mile 14 to Sudan, but that was a temporary security arrangement to create a buffer zone between the two armies of Sudan and South Sudan.

    Citizens from Aweil in Northern Bhar el Ghazal state demonstrated in Juba on Monday against the agreement, prompting the police to fire live rounds to disperse them.

    The demonstrators later on converged in front of the national parliament holding placards and banners and chanting “down, down, Salva Kiir.”

    Kiir told the army that even though he was insulted by the demonstrators he did not order the police to fire live bullets to disperse them.

    He challenged those who were against the Mile 14 arrangement as returnees from the Diaspora who worked to instigate the situation.

    Meanwhile the national parliament endorsed the Addis Ababa cooperation agreement on Tuesday as requested by President Salva Kiir during his briefing to the lawmakers on Monday.

    (ST)

  • Obama & Romney in Spiky Debate

    {{An aggressive President Barack Obama accused challenger Mitt Romney of peddling a “sketchy deal” to fix the U.S. economy and playing politics with the deadly terrorist attack in Libya in a Tuesday night debate crackling with energy and emotion just three weeks before the election.}}

    Romney pushed back hard, saying the middle class “has been crushed over the last four years” under Obama’s leadership and that 23 million Americans are still struggling to find work.

    He contended the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya was part of an unraveling of the administration’s foreign policy.

    The president was feistier from the outset than he had been in their initial encounter two weeks ago, when he turned in a listless performance that sent shudders through his supporters and helped fuel a rise by Romney in opinion polls nationally and in some battleground states.

    When Romney said Tuesday night that he had a five-point plan to create 12 million jobs, Obama said, “Gov. Romney says he’s got a five-point plan. Gov. Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan. He has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules.”

    Obama and Romney disagreed, forcefully and repeatedly — about taxes, the bailout of the auto industry, measures to reduce the deficit, energy, pay equity for women and health care as well as foreign policy across 90 minutes of a town-hall style debate.

    Immigration prompted yet another clash, Romney saying Obama had failed to pursue the comprehensive legislation he promised at the dawn of his administration, and the president saying Republican obstinacy made a deal impossible.

    {{Romney gave as good as he got.}}

    “You’ll get your chance in a moment. I’m still speaking,” the former Massachusetts governor said at one point while Obama was mid-sentence, drawing a gasp from the audience. He said the president’s policies had failed to jumpstart the economy and had cramped energy production.

    The open-stage format left the two men free to stroll freely across a red-carpeted stage, and they did. Their clashes crackled with energy and tension, and the crowd watched raptly as the two sparred while struggling to appear calm and affable before a national television audience.

    While most of the debate was focused on policy differences, there was one more-personal moment, when Obama said Romney had investments in China.

    “Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?” Romney interrupted.

    “You know, I don’t look at my pension. It’s not as big as yours,” shot back Obama to his wealthier rival.

    Obama noted Romney’s business background to rebut his opponent’s plans to fix the economy and prevent federal deficits from climbing ever higher.

    “Now, Gov. Romney was a very successful investor. If somebody came to you, Governor, with a plan that said, here, I want to spend $7 or $8 trillion, and then we’re going to pay for it, but we can’t tell you until maybe after the election how we’re going to do it, you wouldn’t take such a sketchy deal and neither should you, the American people, because the math doesn’t add up.”

    Countered Romney, a few minutes later, “It does add up.”

    Under the format agreed to in advance, members of an audience of 82 uncommitted voters posed questions to the president and his challenger.

    Nearly all of them concerned domestic policy until one raised the subject of the recent death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in a terrorist attack at an American post in Benghazi.

    Romney said it took Obama a long time to admit the episode had been a terrorist attack, but Obama said he had said so the day after in an appearance in the Rose Garden outside the White House.

    When moderator Candy Crowley of CNN said the president had in fact done so, Obama, prompted, “Say that a little louder, Candy.”

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken responsibility for the death of Ambassador L. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, but Obama said bluntly, “I’m the president, and I’m always responsible.”

    Romney said it was “troubling” that Obama continued with a campaign event in Las Vegas on the day after the attack in Libya, an event the Republican said had “symbolic significance and perhaps even material significance.”

    Obama seemed to bristle. He said it was offensive for anyone to allege that he or anyone in his administration had used the incident for political purposes. “That’s not what I do.”

    According to the transcript, Obama said on Sept. 12, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.”

    One intense exchange focused on competing claims about whether energy production is increasing or slowing.

    Obama accused Romney of misrepresenting what has happened — a theme he returned to time and again. Romney strode across the stage to confront Obama face to face, just feet from the audience.

    Both men pledged a better economic future to a young man who asked the first question, a member of a pre-selected audience of 82 uncommitted voters.

    Then the president’s determination to show a more aggressive side became evident.

    “That’s been his philosophy in the private sector,” Obama said of his rival. “That’s been his philosophy as governor. That’s been his philosophy as a presidential candidate. You can make a lot of money and pay lower tax rates than somebody who makes a lot less.”

    “You can ship jobs overseas and get tax breaks for it. You can invest in a company, bankrupt it, lay off the workers, strip away their pensions and you still make money. That’s exactly the philosophy that we’ve seen in place for the last decade,” the president said in a scorching summation.

    Unable to respond at length because of the debate’s rules, Romney said the accusations were “way off the mark.”

    But moments later, he reminded the national television audience of the nation’s painfully slow recovery from the worst recession in decades.

    There are “23 million people struggling to find a job. … The president’s policies have been exercised over the last four years and they haven’t put America back to work,” he said. “We have fewer people working today than when he took office.”

    Economic growth has been slow throughout Obama’s term in office, and unemployment only recently dipped below 8 percent for the first time since he moved into the White House. Romney noted that if out-of-work Americans who no longer look for jobs were counted, the unemployment rate would be 10.7 percent.

    Both men had rehearsed extensively for the encounter, a turnabout for Obama.

    “I had a bad night,” the president conceded, days after he and Romney shared a stage for the first time, in Denver. His aides made it known he didn’t intend to be as deferential to his challenger this time, and the presidential party decamped for a resort in Williamsburg, Va., for rehearsals that consumed the better part of three days.

    Romney rehearsed in Massachusetts and again after arriving on Long Island on debate day, with less to make up for.

    Asked Tuesday night by one member of the audience how he would differ from former President George W. Bush, the last Republican to hold the office, Romney said, “We are different people and these are different times.”

    He said he would attempt to balance the budget, something Bush was unsuccessful in doing, get tougher on China and work more aggressively to expand trade.

    Obama jumped in with his own predictions — not nearly as favorable to the man a few feet away on stage. He said the former president didn’t attempt to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood or turn Medicare into a voucher system.

    Though the questions were from undecided voters inside the hall — in a deeply Democratic state — the audience that mattered most watched on television and was counted in the tens of millions. Crucially important: viewers in the nine battlegrounds where the race is likely to be settled.

    The final debate, next Monday in Florida, will be devoted to foreign policy.

    Opinion polls made the race a close one, with Obama leading in some national surveys and Romney in others. Despite the Republican’s clear gains in surveys in recent days, the president led in several polls of Wisconsin and Ohio, two key Midwestern battlegrounds where Romney and running mate Paul Ryan are campaigning heavily.

    Barring a last-minute shift in the campaign, Obama is on course to win states and the District of Columbia that account for 237 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The same is true for Romney in states with 191 electoral votes.

    The remaining 110 electoral votes are divided among the hotly contested battleground states of Florida (29), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13) New Hampshire (4), Iowa (6), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Ohio (18) and Wisconsin (10).

    Obama has campaigned in the past several days by accusing Romney of running away from some of the conservative positions he took for tax cuts and against abortion earlier in the year when he was trying to win the Republican nomination.

    “Maybe you’re wondering what to believe about Mitt Romney,” says one ad, designed to remind voters of the Republican’s strong opposition to abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at stake.

    Romney countered by stressing both in person and through his television advertising the slow pace of the economic recovery, which has left growth sluggish and unemployment high throughout Obama’s term. Joblessness recently declined to 7.8 percent, dropping below 8 percent for the first time since the president took office.

    {Startribune}

  • Six New Senators Take Oath

    {{Six new Senators have taken oath to assume their new responsibilities in the Rwandan Senate at a swearing-in ceremony presided over by President Paul Kagame. }}

    The new members of the Upper House include Prof. Chrysologue Karangwa, Zephyrin Kalimba,Margaret Nyagahura,Consolée Uwimana,Jeanne d’Arc Mukakalisa and Charles Uyisenga.

  • Kabuga Son-in-Law to Head RNC in Belgium

    {{The Son-in-Law to an elusive Rwanda genocide fugitive has been appointed to a senior position in an opposition political pressure group- Rwanda National Congress (RNC) currently operating outside the country.}}

    Dr Paulin Murayi will head the Brussels wing of the troubled RNC.

    He is a leading founder member of genocide radio RTLM that encouraged the brutal killings targeting ethnic Tutsi’s before and during the 1994 genocide.

    Dr. Paulin Murayi a medical practitioner who has been off the public record until recently, is married to Winnie Kabuga, the daughter of Felicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted fugitives on the planet.

    In 1993, when the genocide radio RTLM was being established, Murayi was a medical student in Belgium and headed two very crucial bodies: the MRND chapter there, as well as the Rwando-Belgo association, according to witness testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

    During the fundraising period, RTLM shareholders, including majority owner Kabuga, tasked Murayi to solicit support for the station among Rwandan extremists in Belgium at the time. He did not fail.

    Dr Murayi personally hired Georges Ruggiu, the Belgo-Italian convicted by the ICTR for genocide due to his role at RTLM.

    Ruggiu became involved with genocide extremists in the Rwanda community in Belgium a few years before RTLM was created.

  • Mugabe Dissapointed with UN General Assembly

    {{Zimbabwe Leader Robert Mugabe has expressed disappointment with the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly, describing it as one of the same ordinary repetitive sessions world leaders have held in the past.}}

    Speaking to journalists on arrival in Harare, he said, ‘‘It wasn’t a good meeting in the sense that the issues that should have been prominent, issues to deal with unilateralism and multi-lateralism, were sidelined.

    ‘‘In the General Assembly, the people were just making statements, for instance US president Barack Obama. He just talked about Stevens (the US ambassador who was killed in Libya), nothing that was global, in terms of how the world should move in reforming the UN.

    ‘‘Yes, we had statements that were made on reforming the UN, but they were just statements. There is need for real movement by the developing world.

    “It’s as if we are the minority yet those who have the veto are in fact the minority.’’

    The build-up to the 67th Session of the UNGA that officially opened on Tuesday under the theme “Bringing About Adjustment or Settlement of International Disputes or Situations by Peaceful Means”, was characterised by debate on the relevance of the UN to the prevailing geo-political challenges confronting the world.

    A high level meeting on the Rule of Law at the International and National Level that convened on Monday was naturally dominated by debate on the need to reform the UN system to make it democratic and effective.

    The document released at the end of the meeting implored member states to be bound by the founding principles of the UN, among them the sovereign equality of member states.

    In his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, US president Barack Obama made an impassioned address about the death of the US envoy, a refrain that was picked by many speakers drawn from the western block.

    President Mugabe who took the podium on Wednesday, reminded Mr Obama that his country was a member of the same Nato that had killed Colonel Gaddafi, and slammed the US and its allies for practising double standards in mourning Stevens condemning his killing while remaining mum on Gaddafi.

    President Mugabe reiterated the global concern in his address on Wednesday, calling for the reform and realignment of the UN, its specialised agencies, and international financial institutions in line with global challenges and contemporary realities.

    These agencies, President Mugabe said, are the only instruments available for responding effectively to the global challenges the world faces.

    He reiterated Zimbabwe’s support for ongoing inter-governmental negotiations on the reform and expansion of the Security Council, and cautioned against an open-ended approach that shortchanges countries that are not represented on the Security Council.

    Zimbabwe, he said, stood by Africa’s demand for two permanent seats complete with a veto, if the veto is to be retained, plus two additional non-permanent seats, as clearly articulated in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

    He said Africa will not be bought off with empty promises, not cosmetic tinkering disguised as reform of the Security Council.

    Mugabe decried the foisting of unacceptable concepts on UN member states without inter-governmental mandates.

    He cited the abuse of the concept of responsibility to protect in the absence of agreement on the circumstances under which it might be evoked, a development that he said compromised and undermined the cardinal principles of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and non interference in the domestic affairs of member states.

    Mugabe urged member states to take stock of the inspiring preamble of the UN Charter in the wake of the radical departure from its noble and solemn declarations.

    He called on the Security Council, which is still dominated by the five victorious allies of the Second Anglo-Saxon War, to respect and support the decisions, processes and priorities of regional organisation.

    He condemned the illegal economic sanctions regime that the United States, the European Union and their allies imposed on Zimbabwe.

    He reminded Washington and Brussels that there was international consensus, fully backed by Sadc, the AU, Comesa, the Non-Aligned Movement and the progressive world that the sanctions must be promptly and unconditionally lifted.

  • Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is New Somalia President

    {{Academic Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud was chosen late monday by Somali Members of parliament as the country’s new President.}}

    The choice of Hassan has upset the pre-election favourite and turning a major page in the search for a peace that has proved elusive for two decades.

    MPs marked their ballot papers behind a curtain before casting them in a clear box in front of foreign envoys and hundreds of Somali men and women. In a surprise result, Mohamud won a runoff by 190 votes to 79 after the first round failed to produce a clear winner.

    Mohamud, 57, is a professor and activist who has worked for several national and international peace and development organisations including the UN children’s agency Unicef.

    Last year, frustrated by Somalia’s dominant clan system, he founded what he claimed was the first political party in Mogadishu, the Peace and Development party.

    Touching a Qur’an with his right hand, Mohamud was sworn in as president within minutes of his poll victory. Ahmed, the outgoing president, conceded defeat after the onlookers in the hall spontaneously stood up and sang the national anthem.

    “I am happy to see the first free and fair election happen in Somalia after 40 years,” he said. “I want to congratulate the new president for the fair election, and I want to declare that I am fully satisfied with the results.”

    Outgoing prime minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, who threw his weight behind Mohamud’s candidacy, said the result heralded a new era for Somali politics. “Somalia voted for change,” he told Reuters, adding it was too early to say if he would take part in the new administration.

    Among the countless issues in the new president’s intray will be piracy off the Somali coast, which has led to millions of pounds worth of armed defences for international shipping. In an interview with Press in Mogadishu last month, Mohamud accused foreign powers of hypocrisy.

    “Somalis are confused,” he said. “The international community is putting a lot of resources towards it. Why not address the illegal fishing in Somali seas? People are getting the notion that international forces are there to protect the illegal fishing. The Somali fisherman cannot go to the sea because he will be considered a pirate.”

    Referring to allegations that European firms dump toxic waste off the Somali coast, he added: “Why the international community not say anything? It’s delicate.”

    But Mohamud rejected the idea of offering pirates an amnesty. “That will only encourage more. They have to be given some incentive but not that. Give them skills and rehabilitation and the opportunity to learn a better life.

    Although Islamist militant group al-Shabaab has been driven out of Mogadishu, assassinations and suicide bombings remain a constant threat. As president, Mohamud will now be a prime target.

    He admitted: “Anybody who lives here in Mogadishu always lives under enormous risk. We have a coping mechanism but it doesn’t always work.

    “The fear factor is very strong. It makes the people quiet, it makes people behave differently. If we let the fear factor control us, we will never move ahead.”

    Mohamud has received threats from al-Shabaab in the past. “Someone called my wife to say, ‘You’ll have to take care of your orphan soon.’ Al-Shabaab targets everybody who is doing something against them– a woman in civil society, a traditional elder, a businessman, a religious leader.

    “Al-Shabaab is not an ordinary militia like a clan militia. It is an ideology. You cannot fight an ideology only. That is what the government is doing. Military al-Shabaab is defeated; the areas they control are because nobody wants them, but still the ideology is there. We need a multi-faceted war against them. If we continue like this, the suicide bombings will continue.”

    Continued peace in Mogadishu is far from assured, he said. “If Amisom [African Union forces] left the state house, the president will not be there. Somalia doesn’t have 100 trained soldiers capable of defending it. They are killing machines, trained in militia camps. They do not see themselves as servants of the people.

    “If you go through Mogadishu, you can see it is different from 18 months ago. But the question is, how sustainable is this? It’s still very fragile. Amisom cannot be here forever. We Somalis need to have our own security forces.”

    During the interview, Mohamud presented himself as a political outsider untainted by the UN-backed transitional federal government (TFG) and its “failure of leadership”. In July, a UN report said it had found that out of every $10 in revenue raised between 2009-10, $7 had never made it into state coffers.

    Graft had become endemic, Mohamud said. “The leaders see the state as a money-making machine. They don’t want to confine their power. Corruption was an important factor that contributed and still does today.”

    He said the selection of MPs was flawed but his party had backed the process and a new constitution. Little guessing that he would emerge the victor, he added: “It is a defining time in Somalia. I’m not saying Somalia will get what it deserves but it will be better than the status quo.”

    Mohamud graduated from the Somali National University in 1981 and went on to study in India, where he obtained a master’s degree from Bhopal University in 1988.

    He returned home and taught as a professor, including at the Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development, which he helped found in 1999. Its goal is to train administrators and technicians who can help rebuild the country.

    The vote was seen as a culmination of a regionally brokered and UN-backed roadmap. There has been no effective central government control over most of the largely lawless country since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

  • New Somalia President to be Chosen Today

    {{Today September 10, Somalia’s parliament is choosing a new president for the war-torn nation in a secret ballot on Monday.

    A total of 25 candidates have each paid a $10,000 fee to contest for the top job.}}

    Some of the key candidates.

    {{SHARIF SHEIKH AHMED}}

    President since 2009, the former geography teacher is one of the strongest candidates, despite criticism by many that he has amassed a giant campaign chest through rampant corruption, claims he rejects.

    Former Islamist colleagues with the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents have since vowed to kill the cleric for leading the Western-backed government.

    He comes from the town of Jowhar and belongs to the Abgaal branch of the Hawiye clan, a prominent clan in central Somalia and Mogadishu.

    {{ABDIWELI MOHAMED ALI}}

    Prime minister in the last administration, the US-educated economist hails from the northern Puntland region. He is also seen as another possible winner.

    {{ADULLAHI MOHAMED FARMAJO}}

    A former prime minister from the Marehan Darod clan in southern Somalia’s Gedo region, Farmajo is reportedly popular on the streets of Mogadishu but is not seen as a likely winner. He was educated in Somalia and the US.

    {{ABDULLAHI AHMED ADDOW}}

    Former finance minister under toppled dictator Siad Barre and ambassador to the US, Addow hails from southern Somalia and the Habar Gedir sub-clan of the Hawiye.

    {{ABDIRAHMAN MOALIM ABDULLAHI BADIYOW}}

    A former army colonel and senior leader of the Al-Islah party, Somalia’s Muslim Brotherhood.

    {{ABDIWELI ELMI OMAR GONJEH}}

    Former deputy prime minister and transport minister in the transitional government, from the Majarteen sub-clan of the Darod.

    {{AHMED ISMAIL SAMATAR}}

    A formidable academic specialising in international politics and economics, a Fulbright scholar and author of multiple books on Somalia, Samatar took a leave of absence as a professor at Macalester College, in the US state of Minnesota, to contend for the top post.

    {{YUSUF GARAD}}

    A respected journalist who once worked for Radio Mogadishu, Garad retired as head of the BBC’s Somali service to compete for the presidency.

    After a first degree in Mogadishu, he studied in Italy and France, before completing a masters degree in international affairs in the US.

  • 25 Candidates Compete for Somalia Presidency

    {{In Somalia, 25 candidates will compete for the post of President.

    All the 25 candidates have met the conditions required to run for Somalia’s landmark presidency.}}

    The country’s Parliamentary Election Committee running the anticipated contest announced.

    According to committee spokesman Osman Libah Ibrahim, 33 hopefuls had picked up the nomination forms by Thursday’s deadline while 25 were deemed to have met the required threshold.

    Somali’s parliament will elect a new President as a number of obstacles including security considerations prevented the holding of a universal vote.

    The candidates meeting the requirements include incumbent President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, outgoing prime minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, former premier Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo and current MPs Professors Ahmed Ismael Samatar and Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.

    The candidates are expected to address the new Federal Parliament on (today) September 7 and 8 and lay out their respective programmes should any of them be elected President.