In September , Somalia elected its first stable central government in decades . Professor Ahmed Ali Samatar says the new government is ' ` ` heavy challenges '' Somalia may have been brought to its knees by decades of war but in the 1960s , after it threw off the chains of colonialism to gain its independence , it was a model of democracy , says Samatar . Samatar is a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota , U.S . He ran for president in the recent Somali elections and is now a member of parliament .
In September , Somalia elected its first stable central government in decades . Professor Ahmed Ali Samatar says the new government is ' ` ` heavy challenges '' Samatar is a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota , U.S . He ran for president in the recent Somali elections and is now a member of parliament .