Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47014)	10/10/2004 3:55:55 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Elections becoming ‘fashion statements’ in countries where only number of guns use to signal the change of political situation; New Somali president elected More ballots and less bullets.. why it is so that these 'war torn countries' from Afghanistan to Somalia are reverting from 'bullets' to 'ballots,' from days in Mogadishu when UN soldiers bodies were being dragged on streets the mergence of present news is a great achievement, I will definitely give the credit to 'war' on terror where warlords have a far lesser role, in Iraq once 'Iraqi security' forces are on line we will see a total change in security situation.. The election followed two years of peace talks Somalia's MPs have elected Abdullahi Yusuf as the new president in the latest bid to end lawlessness and bring political stability to their nation. The election was held in a sports stadium in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, because Somalia's capital is still considered too dangerous. The country has seen numerous attempts to restore order since 1991 when warlords ousted the military ruler. There was chaos as rival militias fought and two million Somalis fled. Support Sunday's election was the culmination of two years of often difficult negotiations in Nairobi. The new president's first task is to appoint a prime minister After two rounds of voting plus three voluntary withdrawals, the field was narrowed down from 26 to two candidates - Abdullahi Yusuf, president of the Somali semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and Abdullahi Adow, a financier and former ambassador to Washington. In the end, Abdullahi Yusuf emerged the winner by more than 100 votes. The 275 MPs, most of them clan leaders and warlords, had queued on Sunday morning to go through metal detectors and enter Nairobi's Kasarani Sports Centre Gymnasium that is serving as the election venue. The MPs, who were nominated in August, said they hoped to establish a democratic future for their country. They were called one by one to cast their votes in transparent ballot boxes. Before voting began, parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden urged the international community to recognise the outcome and Somalis to support whoever was elected. One of the candidates who pulled out, outgoing transitional President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, said he was ready to do that. "That is democracy," he said. Decade of chaos The stadium was packed while thousands more Somalis gathered outside where heavily armed Kenyan police were patrolling the venue. Parliament-in-exile Somalis are hoping that a new administration under a new president and prime minister will set them on the road to peace and stability. But optimism is tempered by the knowledge that there have been numerous failed attempts to restore stability, says the BBC's Adam Mynott in Nairobi. Somalia descended into chaos as rival militias tore the country apart after the military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown. Many of the two million Somalis who fled became refugees in neighbouring countries.