Former premier, a US citizen, wins Somalia presidential vote

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A former prime minister who holds dual Somali-U.S. citizenship was elected Somalia’s new president on Wednesday, declaring a new “era of unity” as he took on the daunting task of bringing the long-chaotic country its first fully functioning central government in a quarter-century.

Fears of attacks by the Islamic extremist alShabab dogged the historic vote, which was limited to lawmakers instead of the population at large, with members of the upper and lower houses of parliament casting ballots at a heavily guarded former air force base in the capital, Mogadishu, while a security lockdown closed the international airport.

“This victory belongs to the Somali people,” the newly elected president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, declared after he was sworn in. “This is the beginning of the era of unity, the democracy of Somalia and the beginning of the fight against corruption.

“There is a daunting task ahead of me, and I know that,” he said.

Thousands of jubilant Somalis chanted the new president’s name as cheering soldiers fired into the air.

Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat after two rounds of voting, saying: “History was made. We have taken this path to democracy.”

The new president represents a generation scattered abroad by conflict who cautiously have begun to return to help Somalia recover.

Farmajo, who is in his mid-50s and holds degrees from the State University of New York in Buffalo, was prime minister for eight months before leaving the post in 2011. While he was in office, al-Shabab was expelled from Mogadishu, his campaign biography says. He had lived in the United States since 1985.