Somali leaders back new constitution

A gathering of Somali leaders has overwhelmingly backed a new constitution, paving the way for a new government to be elected this month.

The vote came shortly after two bombers blew themselves up outside the building. Under a UN-backed plan, a new parliament will choose the next Somali leader on 20 August.

Somalia has been devastated by two decades of conflict and an al-Qaeda linked group controls many areas. Its last functioning national government was ousted in 1991 and the anarchy has enabled both pirates and Islamist groups planning attacks around the world to set up bases in Somalia.

“This is an historic day – today we have witnessed the completion of a task that has been worked on for the last eight years,” said Constitutional Affairs Minister Abdirahman Hosh Jabril.