Somalia's first parliament since 1991 inaugurated in Mogadishu

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

A dusty seaside car park with black folding chairs was the makeshift setting on Monday for the first parliament to sit in Somalia for more than two decades.

About 250 MPs wearing new ID tags and, in some cases, the scent of cologne were sworn in by the chief justice on worn copies of the Qur'an in front of Somalia's national flag of a white star on sky blue background.

It was a day that many hope will mark a new chapter after the civil war and bloodshed that followed the collapse of central government in 1991. But sceptics warn that the process is already tainted and prone to unravel.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/20/somalia-first-parliament-inaugurated

[BlueToTheBone]

1. I hope the powers of the Universe

rush in to help flood the plains with peace. This is such a good sign for the end of wars.

[derby378]

2. Well, I'll be dad-gummed

Somalia with a functioning legislative body? How many warlords are trying to end this experiment before it has a chance to begin?

[Posteritatis]

3. My guess would be "all of them."

They're not nearly out of the woods yet; the government-such-as-it-is is going to have to reconquer the country before they can rebuild it, and that doesn't include dealing with things like Somaliland (which really should have been recognized abroad by now).

[Scuba]

4. Already more functional than the US Congress....

... Hey Republicans, you're little experiment of no government didn't work out, did it?