From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun May 16 2010 - 18:28:21 EDT
Somali fighting kills 24, PM says government stays
Sun May 16, 2010 7:10pm GMT
* At least 24 killed in heavy artillery exchanges
* Speaker calls for new government to be formed
* PM says no change to government
(Recasts, adds Prime Minister)
By Mohamed Ahmed
MOGADISHU, May 16 (Reuters) - Heavy shelling pounded Somalia's capital on
Sunday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, as parliament's
first sitting this year triggered a call by the speaker for a new
government.
Speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe told reporters he had asked the country's
president to form a new government after a parliamentary vote of no
confidence.
However, Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke said his
Western-backed government would continue its work.
"My government serves the Somali people and will continue in its dedicated
efforts to unify and pacify Somalia," Sharmarke told reporters.
Parliament met on Sunday for the first time since December as al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab fighters fired mortars at the parliament building.
African Union peacekeepers returned fire.
Parliamentary business has been paralysed this year, with many legislators
living in Kenya, Europe and America because of security fears in the
war-riven country. The chamber has also been split by a bitter feud over the
duration of Madobe's term in office and his competence.
"280 voted against the government, 30 in favour and eight remained silent.
Therefore we will request President Sheikh Sharif to form a government
urgently," Madobe told Reuters by telephone.
A member of the parliament secretariat who did not want to be identified
confirmed the vote's outcome.
But other lawmakers denied that a vote of confidence in the government had
taken place and said legislators had in fact voted to sack the speaker in
chaotic scenes.
"I ask anyone who wants to be the next speaker to bring their CV (curriculum
vitae) and application," said Haji Shugri, the chamber's most senior
lawmaker.
Analysts were swift to question Madobe's call for a new government, arguing
that it was likely a ploy to cling onto his position, one of the most
powerful in Somali politics and some warned the political infighting looked
set to intensify.
CHOPPY WATERS
"(The) current infighting within the government will get more vicious, the
tug of war in parliament and within the executive will get more vicious, so
we are now entering choppy waters," Rashid Abdi, a Nairobi-based analyst of
the International crisis Group, said.
A rights group put the death toll from the fighting at 24 people but said
the number was likely to rise.
"The death toll has now hit 24 and it may rise as the terrible shelling
still continues. Mogadishu's hospitals are full of wounded people. So far we
have counted at least 58 injured people," Ali Yahin Gedi, vice chairman of
the Elman rights group said.
He said hundreds of families were fleeing with the belongings they could
carry from at least five of the capital's districts.
Analysts say President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has failed to deliver on the hope
he would be able to unite some of the country's warring factions and
establish a greater degree of central power following his election in
January 2009.
Somalia has been mired in violence and lacked effective central government
since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991. Islamist fighters have waged a
three year insurgency that has killed more than 21,000 people. (Additional
reporting by Abdiaziz Hassan; writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Elizabeth
Fullerton)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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