Somali leader resigns, ending long power struggle

SIRTE, Libya: Ali Mohamed Gedi, the prime minister of Somalia, resigned Monday after a long feud with the country's president that was imperiling Somalia's beleaguered transitional government.

Gedi, a veterinarian turned politician, announced his resignation in Baidoa, a town in central Somalia where the Parliament meets, saying he was stepping down for the good of the country.

"There has been a lot of wrangling back and forth," he told the Parliament. "And to put all this to rest, I am resigning for the interests of the Somali people." His colleagues, some of whom had been pursuing a no-confidence motion against him, greeted his resignation with cheers.

As he spoke, thousands of people streamed out of Mogadishu, the perennially shell-shocked capital, as insurgents battled Ethiopian troops. Residents said artillery shells were pounding apartment blocks. Soldiers from both sides flooded the streets. The black smoke of burning tires wafted through the city.

The Ethiopian troops who invaded Somalia in December seem unable to halt the insurgency, which draws fighters from a mix of different groups: the Islamist forces that briefly ruled Somalia before being removed by the Ethiopians; clan militias; and rank-and-file profiteers who have parasitically benefited from Somalia's chaos for years.

Local support for the insurgency seems to be increasing as resentment toward the Ethiopians builds. During the weekend, thousands of Somalis demonstrated against Ethiopian troops. Residents said the Ethiopians responded by opening fire on the crowd, killing several people. Representatives of the Ethiopian military could not immediately be reached for comment.

It is not clear how Gedi's resignation will affect all this. The seed of Somalia's problems is clan-versus-clan violence, and one criticism that Gedi, 55, was never able to shake was that he did not wield much clout, even within his own sub-clan, the Abgal.

Gedi's rise to power was essentially an Ethiopian creation. He spent much of his veterinary career at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. In 2004, Somalia's transitional Parliament chose him as prime minister after heavy lobbying by Ethiopian officials who presented him as a gifted technocrat.

But he never seemed to get along with Somalia's president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former warlord. The two quarreled recently over rival oil deals signed by Gedi and the president and over corruption allegations against Gedi and some of his friends.

Some Somali officials said his resignation could provide an opportunity.

"We will pick someone who will help end the insurgency," said Abdi Awaleh Jama, an ambassador-at-large for Somalia's transitional government. "You have to be a boss. You have to be a power broker. Mr. Gedi wasn't, and we wasted three years with him."

Jama said he expected members of Parliament - with a little input from Yusuf - to select another member of the Abgal clan.

Gedi said he planned to remain in Parliament and possibly to run for office in 2009.

By Jeffrey Gettleman
Published: October 29, 2007