Monday, August 07, 2006
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) – Somalia’s “bloated” cabinet has been dissolved after failing to deliver during its two-year tenure and a new one will be appointed in a week, President Abdullahi Yusuf said on Monday.
“The bloated cabinet of (Prime Minister) Ali Mohamed Gedi’s government did not do anything during its tenure,” Yusuf told parliament in the provincial town of Baidoa.
“From today onwards, the government has been dissolved, only the prime minister will remain.”
Yusuf said a 31-minister cabinet would be re-appointed within a week.
The reshuffle follows an agreement on Sunday by Somalia’s top interim leaders to end a rift threatening the fragile administration after Ethiopian-led crisis talks.
Politicians said Yusuf and parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan had opposed the prime minister’s move to postpone proposed talks with rival Islamists, who control the capital Mogadishu and a swathe of south Somalia.
Somalia’s government, based in Baidoa because it is too weak to move to Mogadishu, enjoys Western backing but has virtually no authority over the Horn of Africa country.
Source: Reuters, Aug 7, 2006
