NAIROBI, 4 August 2008 (IRIN) - Somalia's Prime Minister Nur Hassan
Hussein has replaced six of the 10 cabinet ministers who resigned on 2
August in an effort to quell a political crisis in the country.
"Five of those appointed were already in parliament while one was
not," a journalist based in the capital, Mogadishu, who declined to be
named, told IRIN on 4 August.
Hussein told a news conference on 2 August that the resignations would
not affect the Transitional Federal Government's work but could
influence a 9 June agreement signed in Djibouti between the government
and an Eritrea-based opposition faction.
The government, he added, was working well despite the resignations,
designed to create instability in the country and to undermine the
Djibouti peace process.
A rift between Hussein and President Abdullahi Yusuf widened last week
when the prime minister sacked Mohamed Dheere, the Mogadishu mayor,
for allegedly fuelling insecurity in the city and misusing public
funds.
The ministers who resigned, all Yusuf's allies, accused the TFG of
failing to implement its projects and violating its charter.
Yusuf revoked Hussein's order on 31 July, allowing Dheere, a former
warlord, to continue as mayor. However, political observers in
Mogadishu told IRIN on 4 August that there was a likelihood of Dheere
leaving for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he has been
invited to stay.
The TFG was set up in 2004 to help bring order to the nation that had
been without a government since President Siad Barre was ousted in
1991.
Meanwhile, Hussein condemned a roadside explosion on 2 August, which
has so far killed at least 20 people. Another 45 wounded were admitted
to a hospital in Mogadishu, according to hospital sources. Most of the
dead and wounded were women street cleaners.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, it is
suspected that Islamist militants are behind the incident.
"One of the injured women said in hospital that a young man had warned
them minutes before the blast to stop working with the government,"
another journalist, who requested anonymity, said.
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