The African Union has strongly condemned the killing of a Somali MP identified as Mustafa Haji Mohamed, in the capital Mogadishu.

"Members of Parliament represent the voice of the Somali people and any attack on parliamentarians is an attack on the people, and it is unacceptable," said special envoy of the AU commission for Somalia, Boubacar Diarra in a statement on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, unidentified gunmen shot and fatally wounded Somali lawmaker Mustafa Haji Mohamed near a mosque in the Ali Boolaay neighborhood in the capital Mogadishu, where he had offered Maghrib (sunset) prayers. Reports said that he was rushed to a local hospital but died on the way.

Mustafa was the father-in-law of former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

No one has reportedly claimed responsibility for the assassination so far, and no motive has been determined, but some political analysts say that the deadly shooting was politically motivated.


Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

However, MPs meeting in Mogadishu elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new president of Somalia with a big majority on September 10.

The weak Western-backed transitional government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Shabab fighters for more than five years and is propped up by thousands of African Union troops from Uganda, Burundi, and Djibouti.
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