Tight security as Somali president to be inaugurated

Security has been beefed up in the Somali capital and around the Aden Adde Airport, ahead of Thursday’s inauguration of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Main roads in Mogadishu were closed on Wednesday with police deployed in large numbers and armoured vehicles on the streets leading to the presidential palace.

Overnight the city was put under a curfew.

The leaders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti are set to attend the inauguration ceremony.

Djibouti’s leader Ismail Omar Guelleh and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta – whose government’s relations with Somalia reached a record low point during the reign of outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo – are now hoping to reset ties with the new Somali administration.

After the inauguration, the new president is expected to name a prime minister who will form a new government.