1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Somalia

TNG faction rejects new appointments

[Somalia] Hassan Abshire Farah, Chairman of the Somali Peace Conference. IRIN
Hassan Abshir Farah
Divisions are growing within Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) after one faction rejected the recent appointments of an assembly speaker and prime minister by TNG leader Abdiqassim Salad Hassan. Hasan Abshir Farah and Abdullah Deerow Isaaq were dismissed as prime minister and speaker respectively in August. But they maintain that the TNG has no authority to issue such instructions as its mandate expired that month. On Monday, Abdiqassim named Muhammad Abdi Yusuf as prime minister and Mustafa Gudow was appointed as speaker of the Transitional National Assembly (TNA). In a joint press release, Abshir and Deerow said the appointments were contrary to the transitional charter or interim constitution and therefore "null and void". They accused Abdiqassim of trying to hang on to power and reiterated that there had been no quorum in the TNA to sanction their dismissals. Abdiqassim "has no legal basis to dismiss or replace neither the speaker nor the prime minister", they said. They added that until a government of national unity was formed, they continued to represent the TNG at the peace talks. The TNG effectively split into two factions after Abdiqassim returned to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, unhappy over the adoption of a controversial transitional charter at the Nairobi peace conference in July to serve as a blueprint for future Somali institutions. Abshir was a signatory to the charter. Somali political sources describe Muhammad Abdi Yusuf, a former deputy speaker, as "a trusted and a close ally" of Abdiqassim. Like Abshir, he is from the Darood clan from the Mudug region of central Somalia. The new speaker, Mustafa Gudow, hails from Bay and Bakool and, like Deerow, is a Rahanweyn.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Get the day’s top headlines in your inbox every morning

Starting at just $5 a month, you can become a member of The New Humanitarian and receive our premium newsletter, DAWNS Digest.

DAWNS Digest has been the trusted essential morning read for global aid and foreign policy professionals for more than 10 years.

Government, media, global governance organisations, NGOs, academics, and more subscribe to DAWNS to receive the day’s top global headlines of news and analysis in their inboxes every weekday morning.

It’s the perfect way to start your day.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian today and you’ll automatically be subscribed to DAWNS Digest – free of charge.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join