Somali PM resigns ending power struggle with President
October 29, 2007 (MOGADISHU, Somalia) — A long-brewing power struggle between the Somali prime minister and its president ended Monday with the premier’s resignation, throwing the government of the war-battered Horn of Africa nation into disarray.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf have been at loggerheads for months. Meanwhile, the government has drifted as Islamic insurgents attack against government troops and allied Ethiopian forces in the capital, Mogadishu.
“Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has tendered his resignation,” said Salad Ali Geele, deputy defense minister and a close friend of the prime minister. Mr. Yusuf later accepted the resignation, which had been expected.
Messrs. Gedi and Yusuf repeatedly clashed over the balance of powers between the presidency and the premiership. Mr. Yusuf signed several oil-exploration deals with Chinese companies, angering Mr. Gedi, who believed that usurped his constitutional role. Mr. Gedi believes the presidency is a figurehead position, while Mr. Yusuf said that he was the head of state.
Both men jockeyed for position with Ethiopia, a regional power broker and prime backer of the weak government, and they come from rival clans. That brought Somalia’s long-standing clan struggles and suspicions into the heart of the federal government.
Mr. Gedi’s departure means the government will be able to refocus its efforts on installing security in Somalia. But if members of Mr. Gedi’s Abgal clan, which is among the country’s largest, refuse to support the government, it could be further weakened. Many believe another prime minister from the clan will be named following Mr. Gedi’s resignation.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
Separately, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the streets of Mogadishu, in a second day of protests against the presence of the Ethiopian troops in the country. Protesters, mainly women, children and young men, were burning tires, blocking roads with stones and logs, and shouting anti-Ethiopian slogans in parts of south and north of the conflict-wracked city.
Mogadishu has been plagued by violence since government troops and their Ethiopian allies chased out the Council of Islamic Courts in December. For six months, the Islamic group had controlled much of southern Somalia, and remnants have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting this year.
(AP)