Somalia PM announces he will run for presidency

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein will run for the country's presidency, he announced Thursday.

"I served the nation as premier and I want to be elected president and promote peace and harmony," he told reporters at Mogadishu airport before flying out on a trip to Djibouti.

"My immediate task would be to promote dialogue in order to achieve a lasting peace, if I am elected," he added.

"Somalia needs more reconciliation... to have a stable government. I will also give more attention to development and reconstruction."

Somalia's parliament will on January 26 elect a president to replace Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who resigned on December 29 after having tried and failed to sack Hussein as prime minister.

Yusuf's bid to push Hussein out of his job was thwarted when parliament backed the prime minister with a massive vote of confidence.

Hussein, 70, was appointed prime minister in November 2007.

He launched the internationally-backed peace process that saw the signing in in Djibouti of a ceasefire with the moderate Islamist opposition in October 2008.

He and the Yusuf clashed on their approach to the opposition: during his time as president Yusuf had poor relations with the opposition, who accused him of obstructing the peace process.

Somalia's parliament will elect its new president by secret ballot.

The winner must garner a two-thirds majority of the votes. If not, a second and third round of voting is called. In the last round, the winner would only need a simple majority.

Conflict in Somalia and power struggles that erupted since 1991 have scuppered successive initiatives to restore any semblance of order.

Hardline Islamist fighters are continuing their military campaign against the government.