Somalia ex-minister’s presidential quest tests rigid patriarchy
Friday July 16 2021
Somalia’s former Foreign Affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam who has announced her candidacy for president. PHOTO | COURTESY
Summary
If the federal electoral commission accepts her candidacy, she will be only the second woman in Somalia’s history to contest the presidency.
In 2004, Asha Ahmed Abdalla sought Somalia’s top leadership position. That vote was held in distant Kenyan capital Nairobi as Mogadishu then was an arena for warlords.
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When Somalia’s former Foreign Affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam announced her candidacy for president in the next elections, the reaction in Mogadishu was mostly muted.