Former Somali president returns to power, vows to return Somalia to stability
Mohamud previously served as president from September 2012 to February 2017 and is now the first leader of the country elected twice as Somalia’s head of state.
After his election he vowed to “work on a stable politics that leads Somalia to agreement and the world to agreement.”
Farmaajo conceded defeat early Monday and congratulated Mohamud, urging support for the incoming administration.
Mohamud has enjoyed an outpouring of goodwill messages on his victory, including one from the Prime Minister of neighboring Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed.
The presidential election had been delayed for more than a year due to a political crisis compounded by the power tussle between Farmaajo and the suspended Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
The incoming government would aim to contain Somalia’s burgeoning challenges bequeathed by the Farmaajo administration. Somalia is facing its worst drought in decades and grapples with high costs of living and a resurgent Al-Shabaab Islamist sect that continues to launch lethal attacks across swathes of the country, including the capital Mogadishu.
The returning president, Mohamud, accused Farmaajo of failing to rein in the deadly terrorist group since he assumed power in 2017.
Long designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, Al-Shabaab has fought to topple the central government and establish a rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam’s Sharia law.
Earlier in May, the brutal sect overran a major military base housing the African Union forces in Mogadishu, killing a number of Burundian peacekeepers.
