Djibouti - Somalia's President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan appointed a prominent businessman as his prime minister on Sunday, in a key step to forming Somalia's first government in almost a decade.
Ali Khalif Galaid, a member of the powerful Darod clan from northern Somalia, served briefly as industry minister under the government of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, ousted from power in 1991.
The president said Galaid would have to "set up a government of national reconciliation and reconstruction" in the Horn of Africa nation which has not had a central government since Siad Barre was deposed.
Abdiquassim Salad was elected by a parliament-in-exile in the neighbouring nation of Djibouti in late August. He has the support of most of Somalia's powerful warlords and received overwhelming popular support when he first visited Mogadishu as president in late August.
He said he would appoint the rest of his cabinet by next Friday and would then travel to the Somali capital Mogadishu to set up the new government. - Reuters