Mass resignations rock Somali government

Gedi’s fledgling government on verge of imminent collapse after third of its ministers quit in less than a week.

 
Poor leadership?

MOGADISHU, August 2, 2006 – The Somali government faced deeper crisis Wednesday after 34 of its 102 ministers quit in less than a week, raising fears of an imminent collapse of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's fledgling administration, officials said.

The exodus of ministers, which started last week when 18 members quit, has jolted Gedi's 18-month-old government amid calls for his resignation over his faltering policies, notably the deployment of Ethiopian troops to protect his government from a feared advance of Islamist militia.

"The prime minister is not helping reconciliation and his administration cannot run smoothly ... he needs to make a historical decision and give reconciliation a chance by resigning," said former deputy ports and marine transport minister Hirsi Aden.

"The best chance for Somalia to have a functioning government is for Gedi to give a chance to another prime minister - he tried to do something but he has been very unsuccessful," added Ibrahim Yerrow, former deputy minister for national procurement.

In addition to the 34 who have ditched the government since last week, Gedi had fired four ministers, who were warlords, due to their involvement in recent fighting in Mogadishu, and two others have died, leaving 62 still in office.

The growing influence of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), which controls the capital and much of the south of the country, has threatened the already weak authority of the interim government based in the southern central provincial town of Baidoa.

Earlier, SICS chief Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline cleric designated a terrorist by the United States for suspected links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, invited ministers who had resigned to join his camp.

Aweys also chided Gedi for poor leadership and called for more resignations.

Enjoying international goodwill, Gedi's government formed in Kenya in late 2004 after more than two years of peace talks was seen as the best chance for the lawless nation to set up a functioning administration since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

A total of 14 internationally-backed initiatives had earlier failed to produce a government, with analysts blaming unruly warlords who obtained arms and other forms of support from neighboring countries despite a UN arms embargo.

Source: The Middle East Online