29 ministers leave Somali government
AP
August 2, 2006
BAIDOA, Somalia (AP) -- Somali leaders were struggling to regroup Wednesday after 29 politicians left the government, saying the virtually powerless administration should reconcile with Islamic militants who have taken over the capital.
"The prime minister has failed to talk to the Islamic union," said Hasaan Abshir Farah, one of six ministers who stepped down overnight from Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's government. Five resigned Tuesday and 18 resigned late last week.
The former ministers and deputy ministers have not resigned their parliamentary seats.
For the time being, Gedi's government is not threatened because he has the support of more than half the 42 full ministers, as stipulated in Somalia's transitional charter. Of the 29 who have resigned so far, only 11 are full ministers. The rest are deputy ministers.
The leader of the Islamic Courts militia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, said on local radio late Tuesday that the former ministers were welcome in his group.
Militans assure aid agencies
In Mogadishu, on Wednesday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Larouche, and other U.N. officials met with high-level officials of Aweys's group.
The officials sought to reassure Larouche that the Somali capital is now safe and the U.N. can resume its aid work there that has been suspended for years, said a source close to the courts, who did not want to be identified further because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
The administration was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations to help Somalia emerge from more than a decade of anarchy, but it has no power outside its base in Baidoa, 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu.
It also has been wracked by infighting. On Wednesday, President Abdullahi Yusuf said a delegation was heading to Khartoum, Sudan, for peace talks with the militants. But Gedi said the Arab League mediators had postponed the talks, and it was unclear whether the militants even planned to show up.
"I don't know why this team is going to Khartoum or who they would represent," Gedi said.
U.S. says al Qaeda protected
The government has watched helplessly in recent months as Islamic militants seized the capital and much of southern Somalia, imposing strict religious courts and raising fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime.
The United States accuses the group of harboring al Qaeda leaders responsible for deadly bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
On Tuesday, Yusuf told Baidoa residents they have a week to give up their weapons, after which "every single gun" will be seized by force. Somalia's government has no military, but relies on a militia loyal to Yusuf for security.
He did not say why his government had decided on the measure now, but two lawmakers have been shot here over the past week, one fatally.
The United States and other Western powers have cautioned outsiders against meddling in Somalia, which has no single ruling authority and can be manipulated by anyone with money and guns. But there is little sign the warning has been heeded.
A U.N.-imposed arms embargo has been in place since 1992, but all sides in the Somali conflict have violated it.
Sheikh Aweys urges the remaining Somali ministers to resign
Meanwhile, chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts that controls most of southern Somalia on Wednesday called on all remaining ministers within the beleaguered interim government to resign after some 29 had already quit their jobs in a single week.
'I applaud the gesture by those who resigned,' Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from his home in Somalia's central Galgaud district.
'They are nationalists trying to rescue their country because no intelligent person can endure what Gedi and Ethiopia want to do in Somalia. They are trying to persuade us to accept to be recolonized, but they must know this is 2006.'
An initial group of 18 ministers resigned last week and another 11 followed suit Tuesday accusing Prime Minister Mohammed Gedi of treason for allowing Ethiopian troops into the country. They also slammed Gedi's refusal to negotiate a powersharing agreement with the Islamists.
Aweys invited the former ministers to join the Islamic courts and 'help bring peace and security back to Somalia.'
The transitional government's weak authority is limited to Baidoa, a town some 250 kilometres north-west of the capital Mogadishu, while Prime Minister Gedi's hold on power seems increasingly perilous despite narrowly defeating a no-confidence vote Sunday.
Meanwhile, a regional grouping urged the two belligerent parties to attend talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on a ceasefire that would pave the way for an international peacekeeping force.
Gedi has reportedly requested a postponement of the talks while his rival, Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, was said to be waiting for an aircraft to lead a 15-member delegation to the talks Wednesday.
The Islamic Courts also indicated its willingness to allow a delegation to represent it at the Arab League-sponsored talks.
------
Source:
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
August 2, 2006
BAIDOA, Somalia (AP) -- Somali leaders were struggling to regroup Wednesday after 29 politicians left the government, saying the virtually powerless administration should reconcile with Islamic militants who have taken over the capital.
"The prime minister has failed to talk to the Islamic union," said Hasaan Abshir Farah, one of six ministers who stepped down overnight from Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's government. Five resigned Tuesday and 18 resigned late last week.
The former ministers and deputy ministers have not resigned their parliamentary seats.
For the time being, Gedi's government is not threatened because he has the support of more than half the 42 full ministers, as stipulated in Somalia's transitional charter. Of the 29 who have resigned so far, only 11 are full ministers. The rest are deputy ministers.
The leader of the Islamic Courts militia, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, said on local radio late Tuesday that the former ministers were welcome in his group.
Militans assure aid agencies In Mogadishu, on Wednesday, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Larouche, and other U.N. officials met with high-level officials of Aweys's group.
The administration was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations to help Somalia emerge from more than a decade of anarchy, but it has no power outside its base in Baidoa, 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the capital, Mogadishu.
It also has been wracked by infighting. On Wednesday, President Abdullahi Yusuf said a delegation was heading to Khartoum, Sudan, for peace talks with the militants. But Gedi said the Arab League mediators had postponed the talks, and it was unclear whether the militants even planned to show up.
"I don't know why this team is going to Khartoum or who they would represent," Gedi said.
U.S. says al Qaeda protected
The government has watched helplessly in recent months as Islamic militants seized the capital and much of southern Somalia, imposing strict religious courts and raising fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime.
The United States accuses the group of harboring al Qaeda leaders responsible for deadly bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
On Tuesday, Yusuf told Baidoa residents they have a week to give up their weapons, after which "every single gun" will be seized by force. Somalia's government has no military, but relies on a militia loyal to Yusuf for security.
He did not say why his government had decided on the measure now, but two lawmakers have been shot here over the past week, one fatally.
The United States and other Western powers have cautioned outsiders against meddling in Somalia, which has no single ruling authority and can be manipulated by anyone with money and guns. But there is little sign the warning has been heeded.
A U.N.-imposed arms embargo has been in place since 1992, but all sides in the Somali conflict have violated it.
Sheikh Aweys urges the remaining Somali ministers to resign
Meanwhile, chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts that controls most of southern Somalia on Wednesday called on all remaining ministers within the beleaguered interim government to resign after some 29 had already quit their jobs in a single week.
'I applaud the gesture by those who resigned,' Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from his home in Somalia's central Galgaud district.
'They are nationalists trying to rescue their country because no intelligent person can endure what Gedi and Ethiopia want to do in Somalia. They are trying to persuade us to accept to be recolonized, but they must know this is 2006.'
An initial group of 18 ministers resigned last week and another 11 followed suit Tuesday accusing Prime Minister Mohammed Gedi of treason for allowing Ethiopian troops into the country. They also slammed Gedi's refusal to negotiate a powersharing agreement with the Islamists.
Aweys invited the former ministers to join the Islamic courts and 'help bring peace and security back to Somalia.'
The transitional government's weak authority is limited to Baidoa, a town some 250 kilometres north-west of the capital Mogadishu, while Prime Minister Gedi's hold on power seems increasingly perilous despite narrowly defeating a no-confidence vote Sunday.
Meanwhile, a regional grouping urged the two belligerent parties to attend talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on a ceasefire that would pave the way for an international peacekeeping force.
Gedi has reportedly requested a postponement of the talks while his rival, Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, was said to be waiting for an aircraft to lead a 15-member delegation to the talks Wednesday.
The Islamic Courts also indicated its willingness to allow a delegation to represent it at the Arab League-sponsored talks.
------
Source:
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
