BBC NEWS
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Hundreds of mourners in the Somali town of Baidoa have attended the burial of a minister in the transitional government a day after he was shot dead.
Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi said those responsible for killing minister Abdalla Derrow Issak would be found.
He said security would be stepped up in Baidoa, where the government is based.
Tension has increased since ministers resigned and MPs prepared a vote of no confidence against the prime minister.
The vote, which was scheduled for Saturday, has now been delayed.
Mr Deerow, minister of constitutional affairs, was killed after Friday prayers at the mosque.
Later on Friday, hundreds of people took to the streets of Baidoa in protest at his killing, burning tyres and looting shops.
The Union of Islamic Courts, whose militia controls the capital, Mogadishu, condemned the killing and denied any involvement in the shooting.
A BBC correspondent in Baidoa says a growing number of MPs support opening political talks with the Islamic Courts – a move opposed by the interim prime minister.
This rift prompted both the proposed motion of no confidence, and the resignation on Thursday of at least 19 members of the transitional government.
Mr Deerow was not among the group of ministers who resigned from the transitional government, which controls only a small part of Somalia.
In another development, a second cargo plane landed in Mogadishu on Friday, fuelling allegations that the Islamic forces who control the city are receiving arms.
President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government has little influence outside its base in Baidoa, but has the diplomatic support of the United Nations and the African Union (AU) and the strong backing of neighbouring Ethiopia.
Many Somalis, including the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) which controls much of southern Somalia, are opposed to the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil.
Source: BBC, July 29, 2006
