Four more ministers resign from government

Four more ministers resigned from the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) on Tuesday, days after 18 others quit claiming that Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi had failed to promote reconciliation in the strife-torn nation.

"We have resigned because the prime minister refused to heed our call to resign after a majority of MPs [members of parliament] voted against him," Sa’id Hassan Mire, the Deputy Minister for Rural Development, said.

He was referring to a no-confidence vote Gedi survived on Sunday.

Although the number of MPs who voted for Gedi's removal was more than those who wanted him retained, the motion was defeated because it needed the support of 139 out of 275 MPs.

Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told IRIN the ministers who resigned "were [among] those MPs who voted against the prime minister and were about to be fired". He added, "They just jumped out of the window before they were shown the door."

Dinari said the latest resignations would not deter the government from doing its work and Gedi "had no reason to resign, since he won the vote of confidence".

Mire said his group resigned after it became apparent that "nothing would change and no progress would be made in tackling the problems facing the country under the current prime minister".

More ministers, he claimed, would resign soon. "I know of at least 12 ministers and deputies who will announce [their resignations] in the next few days," he said.

Abdi Ahmed Dhuhulow, the Deputy Minister for Livestock Development, who also resigned, accused Gedi of failing to allow his cabinet colleagues "to do their work".

Meanwhile, President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed has issued an order to the country's security forces to confiscate any weapons found in streets of Baidao, the temporary seat of the TFG.

"The aim is to tighten the security of the city and its environs, so only the security forces will carry weapons," Dinari said.

ah/mw