New Somalia Legislators Sworn In

Fifty new members of Somalia’s former opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) have formally joined the country’s transitional federal parliament. The new legislators took the oath of office in Djibouti following a power sharing agreement they signed with the interim Somali government in October 2008. Meanwhile, Somali Parliament speaker Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nor has announced that the election of a new interim president to replace former President Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned late last year, will be conducted by a parliamentary convention in Djibouti on January 30. At least 16 candidates, including Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and ARS leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, have declared interest in the seat. [PE]