Transitional federal government, Republic of Somalia

While Somalia's formal judicial system was largely destroyed after the fall of the Siad Barre regime, it has been rebuilt and is now administered under different regional governments such as the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland macro-regions. In the case of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), a new judicial structure was formed through various international conferences.

Despite some significant political differences between them, all of these administrations share similar legal structures, much of which are predicated on the judicial systems of previous Somali administrations. These similarities in civil law include:[4]

• A charter which affirms the primacy of shari'a or Islamic law, although in practice shari'a is applied mainly to matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and civil issues.
• The charter guarantees respect for universal standards of human rights to all subjects of the law. It also assures the independence of the judiciary, which in turn is protected by a judicial committee.
• A three-tier judicial system including a supreme court, a court of appeals, and courts of first instance (either divided between district and regional courts, or a single court per region).
• The laws of the civilian government which were in effect prior to the military coup d'état that saw the Barre regime into power remain in force until the laws are amended.

Alongside the national constitution, the Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic (TFC) lays out the basic way in which the government is to operate.

The Cabinet, formally known as the Council of Ministers, at first comprised 42 offices, but was later slimmed down to 31 portfolios during a period of contention in 2006. In 2010, it was further scaled down to 18 posts. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the Prime Minister.

The current government posts and ministerial positions are as follows:

A President is elected by Parliament. The President is head of government, and chooses the Prime Minister, who leads the cabinet. The current President is Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who took office on 31 January 2009. The current Prime Minister is Hassan Ali Khayre, who took office on February, 23rd 2017.

The Transitional Federal Parliament elects the President and Prime Minister, and has the authority to pass and veto laws. It is also in charge of governance and administration of Mogadishu. Each of the four major clans hold 61 seats, while an alliance of minority clans hold 31 seats. After an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union and other Islamist groups was formed, the Islamists were awarded 200 seats. Representatives of citizens' groups and representatives of the Somali diaspora hold 75 seats. By law, at least 12% of all representatives must be women. Members of parliament are selected through traditional clan leaders or shura councils.

Under the Transitional Federal Government, a Supreme court based in Mogadishu was established, as well as an Appeals Court. Smaller local courts were also established. A Judicial Service Council directs all judiciary and advises the president. All Sharia courts established by the ICU were discontinued, but Islamic principles are to be used in TFG courts.

Under the Transitional Federal Government, local state governments maintain some power over their affairs and maintain their own police and security forces, but are subject to the authority of the Transitional Federal Government.

The Ministry of Education is officially responsible for education in Somalia, with about 15% of the government's budget being spent on education. However, in practice, the education system is now largely private. In 2006, the autonomous Puntland region in the northeast was the second territory in Somalia after the Somaliland region to introduce free primary schools, with teachers now receiving their salaries from the Puntland administration.[5] As of 2007, primary schools have also seen a 28% increase in enrollment over the preceding three years.[6] In addition, several universities in Somalia, including Mogadishu University, have been ranked among the 100 best universities in Africa despite the harsh environment, which has been hailed as a triumph for grass-roots initiatives.[7]

The Ministry of Health heads the country's healthcare system. The current Minister of Health is Qamar Adan Ali.[8] The autonomous Puntland region has its own local Ministry of Health, which is headed by Dr. Mohamed Bashir Ali Bihi,[9] as does the Somaliland region in northwestern Somalia, with its Ministry of Health led by Osman Bile Ali.[10]

The federal government has two main media outlets: Radio Mogadishu, the state-run radio station; and Somali National Television, the national television channel.

Former President of Somalia Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, one of the founders of the Transitional Federal Government.

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the internationally recognized interim national authority in Somalia from April 2004 to August 2012, when it was superseded by the current Somali Federal Government (SFG). It constituted the executive branch of government. Succeeding the Transitional National Government (TNG), the TFG was the second interim administration aiming to restore national institutions to Somalia after the 1991 collapse of the Siad Barre regime and the ensuing civil war.[15]

In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist organization, assumed control of much of the southern part of the country and promptly imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to reestablish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU and solidify its rule.[16]

On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army decorated for bravery during the Somali-Ethiopian wars of 1964 and 1977 and erstwhile leader of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office.[17] The government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.[18]

Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. At the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops.[19]

President Yusuf deployed thousands of his own troops from Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the battle against insurgent elements in the southern part of the country. Financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous region's government. This left little revenue for Puntland's own security forces and civil service employees.[20][21]

On 29 December 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the country's seventeen-year conflict as his government had mandated to do.[22] He also blamed the international community for its failure to support the government, and said that the speaker of parliament would succeed him in office per the Charter of the Transitional Federal Government.[23]

Embassy of Somalia in Paris, France.

Between 31 May and 9 June 2008, representatives of Somalia's federal government and the moderate Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) group of Islamist rebels participated in peace talks in Djibouti brokered by the former United Nations Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. The conference ended with a signed agreement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in exchange for the cessation of armed confrontation. Parliament was subsequently expanded to 550 seats to accommodate ARS members, which then elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former ARS chairman, to office. President Sharif shortly afterwards appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of slain former President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as the nation's new Prime Minister.[24]

With the help of a small team of African Union troops, the coalition government also began a counteroffensive in February 2009 to retake control of the southern half of the country. To solidify its control of southern Somalia, the TFG formed an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union, other members of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia.[25] Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the two main Islamist groups in opposition, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009.[26]

As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's coalition government announced that it would re-implement Shari'a as the nation's official judicial system.[27] However, conflict continued in the southern and central parts of the country. Within months, the coalition government had gone from holding about 70% of south-central Somalia's conflict zones, territory which it had inherited from the previous Yusuf administration, to losing control of over 80% of the disputed territory to the Islamist insurgents.[18]

During the coalition government's brief tenure, Somalia topped the Fund For Peace's Failed States Index for three consecutive years. In 2009, Transparency International ranked the nation in last place on its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a metric that purports to show the prevalence of corruption in a country's public sector.[28] A World Bank report also alleged that about $130 million that the coalition government had received over this 2009 and 2010 period was unaccounted for.[29] In July 2012, a report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (SEMG) submitted to the UN Security Council alleged that between 2009 and 2010, around 70 percent of funds that had been earmarked for development and reconstruction in Somalia were unaccounted for.[30][31] President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed rebuked the claims, indicating in particular that a $3 million payment from the Government of Oman had gone toward legitimate government expenses, including loans, security forces and parliament. Ahmed also asserted that the SEMG paper had been "timed to coincide with the end of [the] transition period in order to discredit the TFG," and that the Monitoring Group was the "wrong approach for Somalia's peace and development."[32]

On 14 October 2010, diplomat Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was appointed the new Prime Minister of Somalia after the resignation of Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.[33]

Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar in a meeting with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and other diplomats at the UN headquarters.

Per the Transitional Federal Government's (TFG) Charter,[34] Prime Minister Mohamed named a new Cabinet on 12 November 2010,[35] which has been lauded by the international community.[36][37] The allotted ministerial positions were reduced from 39 to 18.[35][38] Only two Ministers from the previous Cabinet were reappointed: Hussein Abdi Halane, the former Minister of Finance and a well-regarded figure in the international community,[39] was put in charge of a consolidated Ministry of Finance and Treasury; and Dr. Mohamud Abdi Ibrahim remained the minister of Commerce and Industry.[39] Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi group and an important military ally of the TFG, was also accorded the key Interior and Labour ministries.[38][39] The remaining ministerial positions were largely assigned to technocrats new to the Somali political arena.[40]

In its first 50 days in office, Prime Minister Mohamed's new administration completed its first monthly payment of stipends to government soldiers, and initiated the implementation of a full biometric register for the security forces within a window of four months. Additional members of the Independent Constitutional Commission were also appointed to engage Somali constitutional lawyers, religious scholars and experts in Somali culture over the nation's upcoming new constitution, a key part of the government's Transitional Federal Tasks. In addition, high level federal delegations were dispatched to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions. According to the prime minister of Somalia, to improve transparency, Cabinet ministers fully disclosed their assets and signed a code of ethics.[41]

An Anti-Corruption Commission with the power to carry out formal investigations and to review government decisions and protocols was also established so as to more closely monitor all activities by public officials. Furthermore, unnecessary trips abroad by members of government were prohibited, and all travel by ministers now require the Premier's consent.[41][42] A budget outlining 2011's federal expenditures was also put before and approved by members of parliament, with the payment of civil service employees prioritized. In addition, a full audit of government property and vehicles is being put into place.[41][43] On the war front, the new government and its AMISOM allies also managed to secure control of Mogadishu by August 2011.[44] According to the African Union and Prime Minister Mohamed, with increasing troop strength the pace of territorial gains is expected to greatly accelerate.[41][43]

Political map of Somalia (as of 25 May 2012).

On 19 June 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned from his position as Prime Minister of Somalia as part of the controversial Kampala Accord's conditions. The agreement would also see the mandates of the President, the Parliament Speaker and Deputies extended until August 2012, after which point new elections are to be organized, including a parliamentary vote-based presidential election.[3] Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Mohamed's former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, was later named permanent Prime Minister.[45]

In February 2012, Somali government officials met in the northeastern town of Garowe to discuss post-transition arrangements. After extensive deliberations attended by regional actors and international observers, the conference ended in a signed agreement between TFG President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Speaker of Parliament Sharif Adan Sharif Hassan, Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, Galmudug President Mohamed Ahmed Alim and Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a representative Khalif Abdulkadir Noor stipulating that: a) a new 225 member bicameral parliament would be formed, consisting of an upper house seating 54 Senators as well as a lower house; b) 30% of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) is earmarked for women; c) the President is to be appointed via a constitutional election; and d) the Prime Minister is selected by the President and he/she then names his/her Cabinet.[46][47] On 23 June 2012, the Somali federal and regional leaders met again and approved a draft constitution after several days of deliberation.[48] The National Constituent Assembly overwhelmingly passed the new constitution on 1 August, with 96% voting for it, 2% against it, and 2% abstaining.[49]