Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (
Somali:
Cabdullaahi Yuusuf Axmed) was born
December 15,
1934 in the town of
Galkacyo,
Mudug Region. He is now the transitional
President of Somalia. He was elected by a session of the transitional Parliament held in neighbouring
Kenya's capital, Nairobi, on
October 10,
2004, and sworn in on
October 14,
2004. He has been living in the Kenyan capital since his election. The election took place in
Kenya because the Somali capital was regarded as being too dangerous.
The President pledged to promote reconciliation and to set about rebuilding the country. However, his government has been plagued by internal disagreements.
In particular, Mr Ahmed is at loggerheads with some warlords and government members over where the administration should be based. The president and prime minister oppose a move to
Mogadishu, citing security reasons.
The make up of a possible foreign peacekeeping force - in particular the inclusion of Ethiopian troops - is another bone of contention.
Ethiopia has been accused of backing rival Somali warlords in order to keep the country weak.
A former army officer and leader of the
SSDF, Mr Yusuf led a guerrilla movement in the 1970s aimed at ousting the Somali dictator
Siad Barre.
In the
1990s Mr Ahmed emerged as the pre-eminent leader of his native
Puntland region; he declared the territory autonomous in
1998. On
July 23 1998 he became the President of Puntland and served in this position until his term expired on
July 1 2001. However, after this he continued to declare himself to be the President of Puntland and started against the new leadership. In May 2002 he gained control of Puntland's capital and was recognized as President of Puntland again, though rebellions continued until 2003. Ahmed then continued serving as President of Puntland until October 2004 when he resigned to become President of Somalia. He is said to have an authoritarian approach to leadership.
However, he helped relocate the Transitional Federal Institutions along with his Prime Minister
Ali Mohammed Ghedi and the Speaker of the Parliament
Sharif Adan from
Nairobi to the cities of
Mogadishu and
Jowhar.
In May 2006, the
Second Battle of Mogadishu started and
CNN reported that there were Transitional government forces in action, but Abdullahi Yusuf told the BBC the alliance of warlords are not fighting on behalf of the government. How
CNN concluded otherwise is not yet known.
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Somali transitional governmant president Abdullahi Yusuf has warned his ministers that they cannot continue to serve in his government while leading militias into battle.
