Leader shows up

last updated 8 January 2015

Jowhar, Somalia

Somalia’s president visited the country last week for the first time since he formed his government-in-exile, last year. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected by a transitional parliament that sits in Kenya, because Somalia is too dangerous. This week, Ahmed toured several towns on a trip to evaluate whether he could move the government home. The desperately poor country has had no functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then began battling one another. “We Need a Government,” read placards held up by villagers who lined up to greet Ahmed. Other signs read: “Peace Is Our Life, Anarchy Is Our Death.”