Baidoa, May 18, 2006 – Somalia's transitional government is preparing to sack two cabinet ministers over their ties to a United States-backed warlord alliance that has been battling Islamic militia.

On Wednesday, Somali officials said national security minister Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and commerce minister Musa Sudi Yalahow - both powerful Mogadishu warlords who are members of the alliance - would be fired from their posts "as soon as possible".

Parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden said action would be taken by Thursday. The two minister's sackings are in response to recent clashes between the alliance and Islamic gunmen in the capital.

In a parliament session in its temporary home of Baidoa, Aden said: "The Somali government has made clear its position about the issue of Mogadishu."

Qanyare and Yalahow control huge swathes of Mogadishu.

Somalia has been without a functioning central authority for 15 years.

The transitional government formed in Kenya in 2004. It has been crippled by infighting and unable to assert control.

130, mostly civilians, dead

Somali transitional president Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed and prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi have condemned the Mogadishu clashes which pitted Islamists against the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).

They said US support for the alliance is dividing the already fractured nation, harming reconciliation efforts and killing innocent civilians.

The latest round of fighting between the two factions ended with a tenuous truce on Sunday. About 130 people, mostly civilians, were killed in eight days of pitched street battles in the capital.

Thousands of Somalis, many of them affiliated with the Islamic courts, rallied in Mogadishu on Wednesday.

They demanded an end to the violence and denounced the ARPCT as a creation of foreigners who care little about the country.

The ARPCT was formed in February, with US backing, to curb the growing influence of Mogadishu's Islamic courts and track down foreign fighters and extremists.

The US claims the Islamic courts are harboring al-Qaeda members.

The courts have denied the charges.

Source: AFP,

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