Surreal

Buffalo Resident Was Somali P.M.

Returns home to work at New York Department of Transportation.

Mohamed A. Mohamed needs to pinch himself to see if it was all a dream. Mohamed was the prime minister of Somalia—for nine months. Now he's back home in Buffalo, N.Y., at his old job at the state Department of Transportation, in a little cubicle with a window. Less than two months ago, he was battling terrorists, pirates, and warlords. He addressed dignitaries from the United Nations. Mohamed, a University of Buffalo graduate who had left Somalia and settled in Buffalo more than 20 years ago, was offered the prime-minister position last October after meeting with President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, even though he had no experience in international politics. He was removed from office in June following a deal between the president and the speaker of Parliament. He now says he was naive: “I thought there was a functioning system that only needed some adjustment here and there. But honestly, everywhere was dysfunction. You’re starting from scratch.”