More ministers quit Somali govt as talks postponed

By Hassan Yare

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) – Four more ministers resigned
from Somalia’s Western-backed government on Tuesday, in a move
that may ultimately clear the way for rival Islamists to take
ministerial posts.

Minister of Minerals and Water Mohamud Salad Nur and three
other assistant ministers announced their resignation less than
a week after 18 senior officials also quit, dealing a blow to
the fragile interim government.

“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 cabinet originally comprised 42 ministers, eight of
whom have quit in the past week. But government spokesman
Abdirahman Dinari said the posts would not stay vacant for
long.

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

Diplomats say power-sharing with the Islamists is the best
way of averting a slide to war in the lawless Horn of Africa
country, which has been deprived of effective central rule
since warlords ousted the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

The Islamists seized Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in
June and now control much of southern Somalia, posing a
challenge to the government’s limited authority.

The government, already in disarray over the walkouts and
last week’s fatal shooting of a minister, called for talks with
the Islamists scheduled for Khartoum this week to be postponed.

“I have communicated with the Arab League and requested
that they postpone the talks for 15 days. They have accepted my
request,” said Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who narrowly
survived a no-confidence vote at the weekend.

The news came as East African foreign ministers and top
diplomats met in Kenya to discuss Somalia and how troops might
be deployed there. A statement was expected later on Tuesday.

Despite international pressure for negotiations between the
two sides, talks stalled when the government accused the
Islamists of breaking a pact against military expansion.

The Islamists have refused talks with the government, which
is too powerless to move from its provincial base of Baidoa,
unless its ally Ethiopia withdraws troops from Somalia.

SHARIA COURT

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.

“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 the Adaado district of
central Somalia.

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 suggesting 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.