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Thursday, November 22, 2007
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's president nominated Somali Red Crescent officer Nur Hassan Hussein as prime minister on Thursday, three weeks after his predecessor quit amid pressure over a political deadlock.
"I issued a decree to nominate Nur Hassan Hussein 'Nur Adde' as the new premier," President Abdullahi Yusuf said in Baidoa, the south-central trading town where the Somali parliament sits.
Known as Nur Adde, Hussein served as a colonel on the administrative and financial side of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's police. He is a lawyer by training and the current vice president of the Somali Red Crescent.
"I pledge that I will do my utmost to perform the difficult obligations in front of me, by respecting the Somali federal charter," Hussein said after his nomination.
Hussein arrived in Baidoa on Tuesday, fuelling widespread speculation that he was the top candidate and on Wednesday he was issued with an essential Somali political accessory -- a retinue of heavily armed militiamen for security. (Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed, Writing by Bryson Hull, Editing by Richard Williams)
Source: Reuters, Nov 22, 2007