Somali MPs Inauguration Ceremony 14

Augustine Mahiga, Special Representative of the UN Secretay General and head of the UN Political Office in Somalia (UNPOS) [centre] sits next to Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the president of the now expired Transitional Federal Governemnt (TFG) 20 August 2012, during an inauguration ceremony for members of Somalia's first parliament in twenty years. 211 parliamentarians out of a total of 275 were sworn-in on 20 August 2012, at an open-air ceremony at Aden Abdulle International Airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The MPs were selected by traditional elders and are scheduled to sit the first session of parliament on 21 August where a process will begin to select a speaker of parliament and new president after the current mandate of the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Led by Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed expired the same day the new members of parliament were sworn in. AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.