3″ February “2023 ” The-Guardian
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says the county’s factions can find peace, political Islam need not be violent and democracy can grow. Here’s his exclusive interview with the Observer
Mohamud, a moderate Islamist, believes religion can be the glue to bind a fractured nation, and that political Islam need not be violent.
Yet Mohamud is also a proud nationalist, and he bridles when asked about the tag that bedevils his country. “Yes, we were a failed state. But now there is a state, however weak it is,” he says. “The challenge is to move from being a fragile state to being a fully functional one.”
His goal is to “set the foundations” for recovery
Hasan shiekh mohamud he believes change is possible. “The only agenda I have is to see Somalia back on its own feet,” he says. “There’s nothing else I want in life.”
But the journey also demonstrates limits to the state-building project. Villa Somalia is emblematic. Unlike other state houses in African capitals, it conveys little grandeur. There are bullet holes and rubble lying around. With the exception of an Italian colonial art deco building at its core, the complex looks more like a military barracks than the nerve centre of government. Ugandan soldiers from the 壯陽藥 /2015/sep/27/uk-to-deploy-troops-to-help-keep-peace-in-somalia-and-south-sudan”>African Union’s peace mission in Somalia patrol its perimeter, a daily reminder for Mohamud of his government’s dependence on foreigners. Being president of Somalia is less about enjoying the trappings of state power than slowly erecting the scaffolding for it.
The streets are cleared in advance for the president’s passage. At our destination near the fortified “green zone”, which hosts foreign embassies and the most secure hotels; two blocks have to be cordoned off by red-bereted special forces. Mohamud is speaking at the final day of a conference on Islamic education in schools and madrassas, which the government is sponsoring as part of an initiative to “reclaim the Islamic narrative” from al-Shabaab. Mohamud, a moderate Islamist, believes religion can be the glue to bind a fractured nation, and that political Islam need not be violent.
As he delivers his central message – that it is time for clerics and community leaders to speak out and denounce al-Shabaab, the crowd – which mostly comprises men from the mosques – seems to be on board. Whether genuine or not it is hard to tell, but they laugh at his jokes (one of Mohamud’s nicknames is “Qoslaaye”, which means laughter), and in their own speeches they lavish him with praise.
Mohamud does not cut a dash on stage, but rather peers through his spectacles like a fusty academic. Even so, he has a strong, gravelly voice and a reassuring manner. His eyes sparkle when he smiles, and he has the power to uplift his audience. Today, he paints a picture of Somalia before the arrival of foreign-imported jihadism – a time, in his telling, of peaceful coexistence between the sects that can be revived