FACTBOX - Somalia's new prime minister

Somalia's new Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke faces the daunting task of bringing peace to the failed Horn of Africa state and relieving one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Here are key facts about him:

* Born June 19, 1960, the 48-year-old Sharmarke is the son of former Somali president Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who was assassinated in 1969 before a military coup. The prime minister's family name should help his acceptance in Somalia as many remember his father with affection.

* Sharmarke is a member of Somalia's large diaspora community, with a family base in the United States, and joint Somali-Canadian citizenship, his aides say. He has a B.A. in political science and a M.A. in political economy from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

* Sharmarke's professional career started with jobs for Coca Cola and a bank in Somalia in the 1980s. He then worked for the non-governmental organization Center for Peace and Development Initiatives in Canada. In 2000, he joined the United Nations, with posts in Sierra Leone then Sudan, where he was a political adviser on the Darfur conflict.

* Sharmarke's last job was as a foreign policy adviser to former president Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned at the end of 2008. Yusuf's successor, moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, chose Sharmarke as premier on February 13 at a U.N.-brokered peace process in Djibouti to set up a unity government.

* The government hopes Sharmarke's diaspora profile, international contacts and family name will help broaden its appeal, and provide balance to the Islamic background of the president. The pair face one of the toughest tasks on the planet, to end 18 years of conflict in Somalia, and relieve suffering for its 1 million refugees and 3 million hungry.

* Islamist insurgents have already denounced Sharmarke as an "illegitimate" imposition from abroad, and have vowed jihad on his and Ahmed's government. On the ground, the government controls little beyond a few blocks of Mogadishu.

* From the northern Puntland region of Somalia, Sharmarke comes from the Darod clan, whereas the president is a Hawiye. Clan balance is a pre-requisite for government in Somalia.


Source: Reuters