Somali MPs 'sack prime minister'

Saturday, 11 December, 2004, 16:36 GMT

The Somali parliament has voted to sack the newly-appointed government of Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Ghedi.

The motion argued Mr Ghedi and his cabinet were illegitimate as they had not been formally approved by MPs.

It also said his team did not reflect the fair distribution of power among the war-torn country's five clans.

President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed has described the vote as "flawed" and is likely to reject the call, his spokesman said.

Mr Ghedi's fledgling government had suffered a setback with the resignation of five ministers this week.

'Destabilised'

Saturday's vote comes 10 days after Mr Ghedi announced his new government.

Mr Ghedi himself had been in office little over a month following his appointment by President Abdullahi Yusuf on 3 November.

But his fledging team was destabilised when a minister and four deputy ministers resigned on Wednesday, describing the cabinet as "too large and not all-inclusive."

The motion submitted by 95 MPs, said Mr Ghedi and his government were in office illegally because their appointment had not been ratified by parliament, as is stipulated by an interim constitution.

Somali presidential spokesman Yusuf Mohamed Ismail said the president could not endorse the vote of no-confidence "because all members of parliament who wanted to debate the motion did not get a chance to speak during the session... and the vote was done after the parliamentary session was declared officially over".

"The vote was also wrong because the president and the prime minister were not given notice in time to appear before the legislature," the spokesman said, adding talks were under way to resolve the crisis.

The new Somali parliament and government are based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, because Mogadishu is still considered too dangerous.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

Two governments have since been formed, but neither managed to establish control across the country, where rival warlords have wreaked havoc.

Somalia | Politics | |