Changing paradigm in Somalia

Sheikh Sharif still had to cope with a significant, albeit divided armed opposition, mostly organised around two groups, after his election

The election late in January 2009 of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as President of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was seen as a major step on the road to achieving peace in Somalia and mending relations between the “old” TFG that had emerged from the reconciliation process organised in Kenya between October 2002 and October 2004 and its Islamic opponents, then represented by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). Despite the prominent role played by Sheikh Sharif in the ICU leadership, after his election he still had to cope with a significant, albeit divided armed opposition, mostly organised around two groups, Hisbul Islam and Hararak al-Shabaab al-Muja’eddin (Shabaab hereafter).