NYT - Somalia: Parliament Backs Premier

[N.O.R.F]

Somalia: Parliament Backs Premier

 

Somalia’s transitional Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Monday to keep Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, left, in his job, despite an attempt by the president to fire him. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former warlord who is steadily losing Western support, tried Sunday to unilaterally oust the prime minister, despite a charter assigning that prerogative to Parliament. On Monday, Mr. Nur shot back, saying, “The president is the obstacle to my government.” Whoever is in charge, the government controls only a few blocks of the capital, with most of the country now in the hands of Islamist insurgents.

 

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[N.O.R.F]

Somali prime minister gets solid confidence vote

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN – 18 hours ago

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's parliament gave the prime minister a resounding vote of confidence on Monday, the day after the president fired him as the country struggles with a deadly insurgency, rampant piracy and political infighting.

 

It was not clear what will become of Somalia's U.N.-backed administration — particularly as it wields virtually no authority in the face of powerful Islamic insurgents who have taken over most of the country. But the long-running dispute between the president and prime minister will do nothing to stabilize the fractured administration.

 

The prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, received a vote of 143-20, with seven abstentions. The vote went ahead even though President Abdullahi Yusuf fired Hussein on Sunday, accusing him of paralyzing a government plagued by "corruption, inefficiency and treason."

 

But Hussein countered that the president lacked the authority to fire him without parliament's approval.

 

"The only obstacle in front of my government was the president, and since I have the confidence of the MPs I hope it will be effective henceforth," Hussein told members of parliament after the vote.

 

President Yusuf's spokesman declined to comment.

 

The government has been sidelined by Islamic militants and is veering toward collapse. The insurgents held a news conference in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday — a brazen move that shows their increasing power — and vowed never to negotiate with the leadership.

 

The insurgents have taken over most of the country and move freely in the capital, Mogadishu.

 

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictatorship and then turned on one another. The country is now at a dangerous crossroads.

 

Ethiopia, which has been protecting the Somali government, recently announced it would withdraw its troops by the end of this month. That will leave the government vulnerable to Islamic insurgents, who began a brutal insurgency in 2007.

 

In the past, Islamists have brought a semblance of security to the country, but have done it by carrying out public executions and floggings. On Saturday, fighters loyal to the most powerful arm of the Islamist movement — al-Shabab — publicly executed two men accused of killing their parents.

 

Civilians have suffered most from the violence surrounding the insurgency, with thousands killed or maimed by mortar shells, machine-gun crossfire and grenades. The United Nations says there are 300,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia, but attacks and kidnappings of aid workers have shut down many humanitarian projects.

 

The lawlessness allows piracy to flourish off the coast; bandits have taken in about $30 million in ransom this year.

 

The United States worries Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, and accuses al-Shabab — "The Youth" — of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who blew up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

 

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