New Somali prime minister named

President Yusef finally makes his decision on the new PM. Below is a brief overview article of the decision. For more details on Nur Adde, click on this link to the Reuters article.

===========================

A new prime minister has been named in Somalia, three weeks after his predecessor was forced from office.

The new man is Nur Hassan Hussein, a former policeman, who heads the Somali Red Crescent humanitarian organisation.

Mr Hussein, also known as Nur Adde, said he would do his best in a "difficult" job.

He takes office amid a humanitarian crisis in Somalia, where the UN refugee agency says 1m people are now homeless following fighting in Mogadishu.

Islamist insurgents are battling the Ethiopia-backed government forces in the capital.

Some 200 000 people have fled their homes in the past two weeks.

Somalia is so unstable that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon say it is too dangerous to send peace-keeping troops there - even though the Security Council would like to.

Only Uganda has sent troops to an African Union mission but they have not been able to stop the violence.

After his appointment, Nur Adde said: "I pledge to do my utmost to perform the difficult obligations in front of me, by respecting the Somali federal charter."

He is from the Hawiye clan, the largest in Mogadishu, many of whom distrust President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, from the rival Darod group.

The previous prime minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, resigned amid intense diplomatic pressure to try to bring stability to the western-backed transitional government - and after losing a power struggle with President Yusuf.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Written By: claire wanja/bbc