Somali legislators have approved the appointment of Adiweli Mohamed Ali as prime minister, their speaker said on Tuesday, and the new government's main goal will be quashing an insurgency, Reuters reported. Ali was named to the post last Thursday by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. Like his predecessor, Ali comes from the Somali diaspora and was a professor of economics in the United States. He was sworn in after a 337-2 vote with two absentions. "The objective of my government will be fighting terrorists and pirates, strenghthening the relationship between the government institutions and our relationship with the international community," Ali told parliament. "I will fight corruption and straighten economic management, good governance and national reconciliation." Following his swearing-in, Ali said he would push for the completion of a draft constitution. "In the short time remaining to us we need to handle many tasks, so we have to redouble our efforts to restore security, completing the draft constitution and passing the transitional period," he said in a statement. "The new PM has been approved by the parliament and is expected to appoint his cabinet ministers as soon as possible," parliament speaker Sherif Hassan Sheikh Aden told reporters. Former Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was forced out by a deal struck earlier this month in Kampala between the president and speaker of parliament that extended the beleaguered administration's mandate by 12 months. -- SPA
