Parliament approves new cabinet

The Transitional National Assembly (TNA) has passed a vote of confidence in the newly formed cabinet of Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah, a member of the cabinet told IRIN on Monday. "The parliament on Saturday passed a strong vote of confidence in the government and its programme for the country," the minister of information, Abdirahman Adan Ibrahim Ibbi, said. The new 31-member cabinet was named by the prime minister on 16 February. Ibbi told IRIN that after a lengthy discussion of the government's programme, presented by the prime minister, 158 members who were present in the assembly voted on the motion. He said 137 voted in favour, 19 against, plus two abstentions. The parliament has a total of 245 seats. Hasan Abshir was named prime minister on 12 November to replace the former premier, Ali Khalif Galayr, who was voted out of office by the TNA in late October last year. The Transitional National Government (TNG) says reconciliation is its priority. "As the prime minister has already said, this government's first priority will be reconciliation. Bringing security under control and raising revenue will also be high on the agenda," Ibbi said. He added that the new cabinet would hold its first official meeting on Monday. In another development two people were killed and three wounded when the house of the TNG interior minister, Dahir Shaykh Muhammad "Dayah", came under attack. "At around midnight last night a group of gunmen attacked the minister's house, killing two of his guards," local sources told IRIN on Monday. The attackers are reported to be from the minister's own Harti-Abgal sub-clan of the main Abgal clan. The motive of the attack "seems to be clan related", the sources said. The minister is currently on an overseas trip.