Beileh tweeted the advertisement for the position, placed in the internationally acclaimed business magazine, The Economist.

The position is currently held by Bashir Isse, who has been serving as the Central Bank’s permanent governor since April 2014. He previously held the position in interim roles from 2006 to 2010 and was reappointed in November 2013.

Who can be Somalia’s next governor?

The advert says the new governor will lead the central bank through ongoing reforms including the issuance of a new currency, rebuilding the bank’s capacity and developing monetary instruments.

The suitable candidate for the position must hold a university degree in monetary, financial, banking, accounting, legal or economic matters and have at least twelve years’ experience in the field of economics, banking, finance or law, preferably internationally.

ALSO READ: Somalia, Eritrea re-establish diplomatic ties

Inter-clan conflict that has ravaged Somalia since 1991 has taken its toll on the country’s economy. Over the past several years it has also been hit by an insurgency by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, famine and maritime piracy.

Last year, the International Monetary Fund projected that the economy was forecast to expand by 2.5 percent in 2018 and 3 percent in 2019, while inflation was seen falling to the range of 2.0 to 2.5 percent in the same period.

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Eritrea’s information minister shared the joint statement on Twitter as Somalia’s president ended a historic three-day visit to one of the world’s most closed-off nations. The countries have not had diplomatic ties for nearly 15 years.

Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed called for the lifting of U.N. sanctions on Eritrea over its alleged support of the Somalia-based al-Shabab extremist group, which Eritrea has long denied.

“We urge all economic sanctions and embargo imposed on the people of Eritrea must be lifted so that the economic integration of the Horn of Africa region can be realized,” Mohamed told a banquet hosted by Eritrea’s president Sunday night.

“Eritrea & Somalia will work in unison to foster regional peace, stability & economic integration,” Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Meskel said. He added: “Eritrea strongly supports the political independence, sovereignty & territorial integrity of Somalia.”

The visit by Somalia’s leader, at the invitation of longtime President Isaias Afwerki, follows a stunning diplomatic thaw between Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia after more than two decades. Ethiopia under reformist new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has asked that the sanctions on Eritrea be dropped.

The U.N. chief has indicated the sanctions could be obsolete.

The U.N. Security Council, which would have to lift sanctions, said after a meeting Monday on measures against Somalia and Eritrea that it welcomed the positive developments in the Horn of Africa involving the two countries and Ethiopia.

Eritrea appealed for the lifting of sanctions at the council meeting, citing support from Ethiopia and Somalia, but Djibouti said the measures must remain in place until a border dispute between the two countries is resolved.

The Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 over its refusal to withdraw its troops from the disputed area and its rejection of all efforts aimed at mediating between the two countries.

Sweden’s U.N. ambassador, Olof Skoog, the current council president, said the future of sanctions is being discussed by council members. “There is a promising diplomatic initiative” involving Eritrea and Djibouti, he said, and “there is a willingness to support the region in these efforts.”

The changing relations in the Horn of Africa region are of both political and economic interest to the wealthy Gulf states just across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Already they have been jostling for influence in the African nations along one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, including both Somalia and Eritrea. Landlocked Ethiopia also eyes both countries’ ports as outlets for its fast-growing economy.

Somalia remains fragile under the threat of al-Shabab, which holds some rural areas and often carries out high-profile suicide bombings in the capital, Mogadishu. A truck bombing in October killed more than 500 people in the deadliest attack in the country’s history.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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Starting a dairy in Mogadishu was not an obvious choice: Islamist bombs go off with startling regularity, electricity is patchy and expensive and most Somalis don’t even drink fresh cow’s milk.

But Abdulkadir Mohamed Salad, 40, who spent most of his life as a refugee in Britain where he worked for a dairy, is convinced the business can work in his home country, where cattle abound yet tonnes of powdered milk are imported every year.

“It is very difficult to invest in a hostile environment like Somalia in the first place and secondly, people here know very little about the dairy business,” Salad told AFP at his small factory, where a stainless steel machine pumped milk into blue sachets.

As a result of unsanitary handling of milk in the past, many in the country believe that cow’s milk is dangerous for their health and prefer to drink camel milk or powdered milk.

Salad left his country shortly after the fall of president Siad Barre’s military regime in 1991 which plunged Somalia into civil war and anarchy, destroying state institutions and the economy.

He worked as a taxi driver before getting a job at a dairy in Leicester. His wife and three children remained behind in the United Kingdom as he returned to try and start a business in his home country.

Wasted resources

Located in southern Mogadishu, Irman has to contend with the constant security challenges in the capital, which affects both production and distribution.

The city is hit by regular car and suicide bombings by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group which has been fighting to overthrow the government for over a decade.

Sometimes their small distribution van, brightly painted with a giant cow on the side, returns without having delivered anything, due to road closures when there is an attack or security concerns.

“There are days when we don’t start the factory because of the security situation in town, this affects our business since we have staff and need to pay their salaries and other administration costs,” said Salad.

“The production capacity of our factory is 10,000 litres per day, but we can only produce 2,000 litres a day currently because of constraints, including the lack of a market,” he said.

The factory’s owners have on several occasions considered throwing in the towel, especially because of the high cost of electricity.

However, this problem was solved when the company received a donation of a solar energy system under a US-funded project to encourage entrepreneurship.

“We are very lucky that we got the solar system to run the factory now, otherwise we could have closed it down because energy is big issue here,” said Salad.

‘I really like it’

“But for the past few months I have been using the milk produced by Irman Dairy and I really like it, now my whole family has grown to like it.”

Sayid Ali, who owns a supermarket in Mogadishu said he was happy to finally have locally produced milk on his shelves.

“We used to sell milk from various brands imported from outside the country but now we also have Irman Dairy produced locally, the number of people who are interested is also increasing,” he said.

Despite being one of the most dangerous capitals in the world, new businesses have been popping up all over Mogadishu in recent years with both local traders and members of the diaspora opening supermarkets and small factories.

Most commodities are imported.

“The government needs to encourage local production otherwise there will not be local investors like the Irman Dairy, my family is now using this fresh milk which I know is coming from our local cows,” said Omar Ahmed, a Somali politician.

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