Premier's resignation threat "taken out of context"

Somalia's interim government on Wednesday denied that Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah had threatened to resign, saying his comments were taken out of context.

The Transitional National Government's (TNG) information minister, Abdirahman Adan Ibrahim "Ibbi", told IRIN the premier's remarks were meant positively. In a recent interview with Somalia's Hornafrik website, Abshir was quoted as saying he would resign if the Somali people did not give him the necessary backing.

But Ibrahim said this should not be construed in a negative way. "He was stressing he needed the support of the Somali people and that if he couldn't fulfil these requirements, he would leave his seat," Ibrahim told IRIN. "But this was a constructive comment."

Ibrahim also said the prime minister had set out the TNG's priorities, first of which was national reconciliation. The other priorities were restoring national security, reviving cultural inheritance and Islamic values, establishing and implementing regional administrations, creating public awareness, creating sources of revenue, improving social services and strengthening international relations.

Addressing a public gathering at the police training college in Mogadishu, Abshir said Somalis had been "held to ransom for many years by a few individuals who put their personal interests before general interests".

"Mogadishu is a mirror for the rest of the country," he added.

In another development, the TNG deputy premier Osman Jama Ali was sworn in on Wednesday, Ibrahim told IRIN. A new 31-member cabinet was named by Abshir on 16 February, but Osman was not present at the subsequent swearing-in ceremony.

Hasan Abshir was named prime minister on 12 November 2001 to replace the former premier, Ali Khalif Galayr, who was voted out of office by the transitional parliament last October.