Somali developments

My confidential (and "highly-placed") Somali source sent me this information on the new president of Somalia: "What I can tell you about him is my own observations of him and his team (the ARS) during the last 9 months but also the differents talks and discussions that I had with manu Somalis and others participants during the negociations of the Djibouti Agreement. What struck me from the beginning was the discipline of Sheikh Sharif at many level: I never saw him loosing his temper even during the most heated times of the negociations. Secondely, I was really amazed by the discipline of his team of negociations: always on time and well prepared... while the TFG team were always in disarray and fighting each others. Third, the composition of his team is very diverse: intellectuals, business peoples, women, youths, elders... etc. And, althought I never had the chance to participate at one of their private meeting, I get informations from some of the participants that Sheikh Sharif style is a participatory one, that he have a great skill when it come to listen to everyones and that he also have great communications skills. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was born on July 25, 1964 in the Shabeellaha Dhexe province of Somalia and studied at Libyan and Sudanese universities. He has worked as a secondary school teacher of geography, Arabic, and religious studies. He speaks Arabic, Somali, and English, and he is from the Abgaal branch of the Hawiye clan (one of the two major clan in Somalia, the other one is the Darood clan).. Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed started his education in Somalia at the Sheik Sufi Institute which was connected to the University of Al-Azhar in Egypt. He then continued his education by entering into Kurdufan University in Sudan where he persued a degree in Islamic law. He the left for Tripoli, Libya and entered into the Open University there where he completed his Islamic law degree in 1998. He came back to Somalia in 2000 when the TFG was created during the Arta Conference in Djibouti and the election of a first president (that was close to the Islamist): Abdikasim Salad Hassan. Soon after, he became involved with the ICU that will take power in Mogadishu from the warlords in June 2006. On December 28, 2006, after only six months in power and the defeat of the ICU's army, he committed himself to fighting the Ethopian forces in Somalia. After the ICU's defeat, he fled towards the Kenyan border. Sheikh Sharif is married and he have two children, Ahmad, aged 9 and Abdullah, who is a toddler. He live in a modest house in Mogadishu. The others things that I can tell you is that for the first time, the MPs vote wasn't a vote based on clan and ethnicity but a sign that a lot of MPs see Sheikh Sharif as a geniune leader that can bring everyone togheter. Beside, I witnessed from my discussion with the MPs and others Somali participants that there is a real fatigue of the ongoing fight. Sheikh Sharif is the only one people remember that brought peace and security to Mogadishu from the warlords in 2006. Furthermore, he is young, talented, and a lot of peoples were telling me that he is an "honest guy" compared to all the others politicians. Finally, a lot of people appreciate the fact that this guy is not ashamed of being a muslim during a time when that definition is associated with terrorism. That's all for now As'ad!"