Monday, January 26, 2009
NAIROBI (AFP)--Moderate Somali Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed announced Monday he was running for the country's presidency, left vacant after Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned last month.
"I will do all that I can to serve honestly if elected president," Ahmed told AFP by phone from Djibouti.
Ahmed is the leader of the Islamist-dominated Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, or ARS, which has signed a peace deal with the Somalia's transitional government under U.N.-mediated talks in Djibouti.
Part of the agreement is to double the parliamentary seats from the current 275 to accommodate members of his group.
More than 1,000 Somali politicians are currently meeting in Djibouti to agree on an enlarged parliament, swear in the new legislators and elect a new president.
At least 16 other candidates, including current Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and his predecessor Ali Mohamed Gedi have declared interest.
Other contenders include Hassan Abshir Farah, a former prime minister, lawmakers Abdi Abdulle Jini Boqor,
Mohamud Mohamed Gulled, Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and former Mogadishu mayor Adde Hassan Gabow.
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