Somalia’s parliament fails to approve PM

  1. Posted on Thursday 21 October 2010 - 15:00
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    Somalia's parliament failed to endorse a newly nominated PM Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. The speaker of parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, postponed a vote to approve the PM after the assembly descended into disarray. Lawmakers got into a commotion on whether the vote should be conducted in secret or openly.
    somalia pres.
    As the chaos begun, the speaker of parliament announced that the vote will be held in secret and shall be postponed until Saturday. The newly prime minister needs MPs’ approval to carry out his duties.

    Last week, Somali president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed appointed a Somali-American to be the new prime minister to replace Somali-Canadian Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who resigned last month.

    Sharmake resigned after a long-running feud with the president. The new PM told members of parliament on Wednesday he came free of political baggage.

    "I do not belong to any group, religious or political, or any other groups other than I am a Somali citizen who wants to take part in the development of this nation which has had no effective government for about two decades," he said.

    If the MPs approve Mohamed; he will be the second prime minister of the two-year-old Somali government led by a former Islamist Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

    The Horn of Africa nation has not had an affective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

    The Al-Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab is controlling most of southern Somalia and parts of Mogadishu, where AU peacekeeping force with government soldiers are patrolling only the presidential palace, airport and seaport.

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