BAIDOA, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Somalia’s government continued to unravel on Wednesday with the resignation of another four top officials who cited the administration’s reluctance to reach out to a rival Islamist movement.
The departure of four junior ministers brought to 34 the number of senior officials to have left the Western-backed but virtually powerless government in less than a week.
“We have resigned because the prime minister has refused reconciliation to go on between the government and the Islamic courts and all the Somalis,” said Hirsi Adan Roble, an assistant minister who quit.
The latest batch of resignations came a day after 12 ministers and assistant ministers also walked out in a move that may ultimately clear the way for the newly powerful Islamists to take ministerial posts, analysts and government sources say.
The Islamists, however, have not indicated whether they are interested in power-sharing, and some fear they are bent on taking all of Somalia and imposing hardline sharia law.
Eighteen ministers and other top officials also resigned last Thursday from their posts in Baidoa, the provincial seat of the interim government set up in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since 1991.
The resignations leave Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi looking increasingly vulnerable, although he did survive a no confidence vote in parliament at the weekend.
He has come under increasing pressure from opponents who have criticized his “incompetent” performance and argued his removal was necessary to create a post for the Islamists, who took Mogadishu from warlords in early June.
Source: Reuters, Aug 2, 2006
