Somali Speaker to Run for President in 2012
Speaker Faces Protesters in Minnesota
By ABDIKAFAR HOSH 09/29/2011
Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden
The speaker of Somalia’s transitional federal parliament has announced that he is running for Somalia's presidency in 2012 to replace the current president, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Speaking to a Somali community, mostly his clan, at a hotel in a Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on Monday, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan described himself as the 'best choice' for Somalia and a rescuer of the war-torn nation.
“I feel that I have the responsibility to make Somalia not only a peaceful country but a better place as well, and I announce that I want to run for presidency in the 2012 elections," said Hassan, who has been the speaker of the parliament for the last four years.
Haweya Salah Idow, a female participant of the meeting who hails from the Rahanwein clan of the speaker’s told Somalia Report that most of the participants protested his decision and mocked his desire to run for Somalia’s presidency.
“Have you ever visited the thousands of IDPs from the Digil and Mirifle who fled from their homes because of the drought and famine, and who are currently located in Mogadishu's camps and areas under the TFG control?," one of the participants yelled at the Speaker.
The meeting concluded after some participants yelled their protests at the speaker.
Another meeting organized by Somali Diaspora community in Minneapolis MN, which has the largest Somali population in the US, failed because only a few people attended.
Zakaria Philippine, a resident in Saint Paul told Somalia Report that fifty people attended the meeting, of which most hail from the Rahanwein (speaker’s clan).
Some of the participants accused the meeting organizers of not treating the attendants equal.
According to the residents, the speaker was supposed to address the community about the latest situation in the country and the TFG activities, but he skipped to politics affairs.
Somalia Report tried to reach the speaker and interrogate him about his bid for presidency and the meetings, but we could not find him.
Subxannallah. I'm simply speechless, gobsmacked wateva
