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More ministers quit Somali govt as talks postponed

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 August 2006, 09:34 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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