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Somalia’s Parliament Meets to Choose President in Delayed Election

Somalia’s Parliament Meets to Choose President in Delayed Election

Somalia’s lawmakers met inside a fortified airport hangar on Sunday to choose a president for an African country beset by Islamist violence, catastrophic drought and food shortages.

The election, delayed for more than a year, has been a source of frustration for the U.S. and other Western countries worried that political upheaval is providing a boost to al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda affiliate that holds sway in parts of rural Somalia and has carried out devastating attacks in Mogadishu, the capital. The country, perched on the Horn of Africa, is also experiencing drought that has left some six million people facing acute food insecurity and 1.4 million children under the age of five with acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/somalias-parliament-meets-to-choose-president-in-delayed-election-11652640465