The nomination of Hussein, seen by many Somalis, as a neutral figure with government experience, came three weeks after his predecessor quit under pressure over a lack of progress in building the transitional government.

‘’I issued a decree to nominate Nur Hassan Hussein ‘Nur Adde’ as the new premier,’’ sais President Abdullahi Yusuf, in Baidoa, the south-central trading town where the Somali parliament sits. Yusuf urged Hussein, a lawyer by training in his 70s, to form a cabinet quickly and asked parliament to approve the nomination. By law, the vote should take place within 24 hours.

“I pledge that I will do my utmost to perform the difficult obligations in front of me, by respecting the Somali federal charter,’’ Hussein said after his nomination. He would become the second prime minister in the interim government, the 14th attempt at establishing an effective national authority in Somalia since 1991.

Hussein’s nomination comes as one million Somalis have fled their homes and thousands have been killed in fighting between Islamist insurgents and allied Somali-Ethiopian government troops in Mogadishu and elsewhere. The war and ensuing human crisis — said by the United Nations to be worse now than in Sudan’s Darfur region — has sunk efforts to produce political harmony, which has eluded the government since it was formed at talks in Kenya in late 2004.

‘Experienced man’

Hussein arrived in Baidoa on Tuesday and a day later, was issued with an essential Somali political accessory—a retinue of heavily armed militiamen for security. On October 29, the president won a longstanding feud with former Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, effectively forcing the latter to step down with a no-confidence vote looming.

That, combined with a change allowing non-legislators to serve as ministers, cleared the way for what diplomats hoped would be a prime minister and cabinet with practical experience. In prior cabinets, the prime minister could only choose ministers from the Somali parliament, which has many warlords and clan elders.

Known as Nur Adde, Hussein served in several administrative and financial capacities in the Somali government, before the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre unleashed anarchy on the Horn of Africa nation.
Experts say he has a tough road ahead despite his reputation as a competent administrator. As required under a clan power-sharing arrangement in the transitional constitution, Hussein comes from the Hawiye clan, and specifically Gedi’s Abgal sub clan.

‘’This guy has the support of the Abgal and other Hawiyes, and they see him as someone who is more neutral than others. He is an old man, but he is healthy,’’ said a Somali expert. Hawiye dissatisfaction with Gedi for the clan’s top government post, his close ties with historic enemy Ethiopia, and the fact that the president comes from the rival Darod clan, have all fuelled government opposition including the insurgency.

‘’He will be better than the former premier because he is an experienced man in Somali politics. He is an old man who has enough wealth. I think he is not going to make money out of his post,’’ said Mogadishu teacher Abdulqadir Barre, a Hawiye.

Many Somalis publicly accused Gedi’s administration of corruption and diplomats privately gave the same assessment. Howver, Gedi has denied all wrongdoing.