Sharif Returns to Power in Somalia as Militants Advance

[NotThe1]

Sharif Returns to Power in Somalia as Militants Advance
Sharif Returns to Power in Somalia as Militants Advance
Excerpt: A rare sense of optimism rose in Mogadishu in the early hours of Jan. 31 as people learnt that the leader of a moderate faction of the Union of Islamic Courts, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, had been elected as head the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Sharif defeated Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who was strongly backed by the international community, and General Maslah Mohamed Siad, son of Somalia's last prewar president Gen. Siad Barre.

"The only period of peace in Mogadishu's 18 years of civil war was in the second half of 2006 when Sheikh Sharif's Islamic courts were in power," Mohammed Ali Siad of the Banadir Business Association told IPS over the phone from Mogadishu. "Now, two years later, no one seems better placed to reach out to Islamic insurgent groups and handle the crisis than him."
WAR INFO: Sharif Returns to Power in Somalia as Militants Advance