Four more ministers quit Somali government

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) – Four more ministers resigned
from Somalia’s interim government on Tuesday, plunging the
fragile administration into further turmoil after 18 top
officials quit last week.

“This is our decision because this cabinet has failed the
reason for which it was established. It has failed to reconcile
the Somali people,” said Sayeed Hassan Shire, an assistant
minister who resigned.

The move came as East African foreign ministers and top
diplomats met in Kenya for talks on Somalia, where Islamists
who control Mogadishu and much of the south have challenged the
authority of the Western-backed government.

Delegates discussed how troops might be deployed to the
Horn of Africa country, and how to persuade the two sides to
hold talks. A statement was expected later on Tuesday.

Shire, along with Minister of Minerals and Water Mohamud
Salad Nur and two other assistant ministers, announced their
resignation in Baidoa, the provincial seat of President
Abdullahi Yusuf’s government.

The resignations are the latest to rock the government
after 18 ministers and assistant ministers quit last week in
what they said was a move to facilitate peace talks with their
rivals, but a spokesman said the vacant posts would be filled
within a week.

“Their positions will be filled immediately, maybe within a
week’s time,” government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

The cabinet originally comprised 42 ministers, eight of
whom have resigned in the past week.

CONFIDENCE VOTE

The government did however receive a boost over the weekend
when the Somali parliament failed to support a no confidence
vote against Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.

Further extending their influence in Somalia, the Islamists
opened a new sharia court on Tuesday 600 km (375 miles) north
of the capital, local officials said.

The Islamists have been expanding into more remote areas in
an effort to consolidate control over the nation of 10 million
after ousting U.S.-backed warlords from Mogadishu in June.

“If the residents of every area in Somalia ask us to … we
should go and install Islamic courts,” said Mohamed Qoryarey,
leader of Islamic Courts’ militia in Adaado district, located
120 km (75 miles) from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

The Islamist movement initially presented a moderate face,
but the rise of hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys as
its most influential leader has fueled fears that the Islamists
want to establish a Taliban-like state.

Aweys arrived in the district on Monday to meet with
elders, local media reported.

“We welcome the installation of the Islamic Courts here,”
said district administration officer Sharmarke Suuley.

In the latest incident highlighting a possible move to a
hardline religious legal system, the Islamic Courts of Middle
Shabelle region, 170 km (105 miles) north of Mogadishu, allowed
a man to shoot dead the murderer of his son, residents said.

Somalia’s interim government — the 14th attempt at central
rule since the nation plunged into chaos after the 1991
overthrow of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre — has been powerless
to stop the advance of the Islamists.