New parliament elects temporary chairman

Somalia's newly constituted transitional parliament held its first meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Thursday during which members elected Hersi Bulhan Farah, 83, to serve as temporary chairman pending the election of a speaker.

"It is a new dawn for the Somali people," Marian Muhammad Mursal, one of the members attending Thursday's session, told IRIN. "As a woman, however, I am disappointed that 34 seats allocated to women have not all been filled. I am appealing to our male colleagues to complete the women's quota," she added.

Five new members were sworn in during the first sitting, meaning that only 12 MPs in the 275-seat parliament are yet to take their oath of office. Some 25 women MPs are among those selected by the various clans so far.

"Today is a historic day for all of us and will mark a new beginning for Somalia," another MP, Awad Ahmed Ashara, told IRIN. Ashara said international support was needed "to enable us fulfil our objectives and bring about total reconciliation and stability in our country."

The MPs were chosen by elders and political leaders from their respective clans who had been attending the reconciliation conference in Nairobi sponsored by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The creation of the transitional federal parliament paved the way for the formation of an all-inclusive government in Somalia, the Horn of Africa country which has remained without an effective government since 1991, when the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre was toppled.

Each of Somalia's four major clans was allocated 61 seats in the parliament, while an alliance of minority clans was awarded 31. A speaker and two deputy speakers to be elected from among the MPs will preside over the election of the president, who will in turn appoint a prime minister to form a government.