By Jeffrey Gettleman

Nairobi, November 22, 2007 - The president of battle-scarred Somalia chose a new transitional prime minister Thursday, a choice Western diplomats said could be a make-or-break moment for the country.

President Abdullahi Yusuf nominated Nur Hassan Hussein, a former police colonel known as the White Nur for his light skin, as the new prime minister. Somali politicians said they hoped he could bring an end to the raging insurgency and humanitarian crisis that have overwhelmed the transitional government for a year.

Several United Nations officials have said that Somalia should be considered the worst crisis in Africa, even more severe than Darfur, and they have been urging the president to pick a leader who can help fix this.

Nur, 69, seems to be cut out for the job. His background is in security and aid work. He studied law in college, spent 35 years in various police commander roles, did a course at the International Police Academy in Washington and has been the head of the Somali Red Crescent Society for 17 years. He is seen by many Somalis as experienced, erudite and, most important, neutral.

He hails from the same clan, the Abgal, as the previous prime minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, who was pushed out by Yusuf three weeks ago. Gedi repeatedly clashed with Yusuf, but while the president, a former warlord, commanded a formidable militia, Gedi had few powerful supporters and was seen as obstinate and feckless.

On Thursday, Yusuf urged Parliament in the south-central city of Baidoa to quickly confirm Nur as the new prime minister. "I have seen that he is a man who can fill that position and has the ability to lead the government," Yusuf said.

The transitional government is expected to confirm the nomination in the coming days. There will be much work waiting for Nur.

The relentless urban combat in Mogadishu - between an unpopular transitional government that was installed partially thanks to American help and a determined Islamist insurgency - has driven hundreds of thousands of people out of the notoriously dangerous capital.

Insurgents have killed countless government soldiers. Thousands of Ethiopian troops are in Somalia, trying to shore up the government, but their presence seems to have antagonized large segments of the population and led to more fighting.

On top of that, a drought-flood-drought cycle has left an impenetrable crust of rock-hard silt over Somalia's fields, causing the worst cereal harvest in 13 years. That has put the country on the brink of a famine. In the worst hit areas, like Afgooye, near Mogadishu, surveys indicate the malnutrition rate is 19 percent, compared to about 13 percent in Darfur, with 15 percent being the emergency threshold.

Source: The International Herald Tribune