Ministers, MPs resign from transitional gov't

Uncertainty gripped the Somali transitional federal government (TFG) on Thursday after 18 members of parliament, including several ministers and deputies, resigned from office.

"We resigned after it became very clear that this government is not interested in peace or reconciliation," said Usman Hassan Ali Ato, Minister for Public Works. "More are expected to announce [their resignations] at a press conference later this evening."

Ato said the group had tried to persuade the government to talk to the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) but "instead of reconciliation they are preparing for war". The government, he claimed, had brought foreign fighters into the country.

Abdikarim Ahmed Ali, minister for the treasury, said the ministers had handed their resignation letters to President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi. "So far 18 ministers and deputy ministers have handed in their letters today [Thursday]," he added.

Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told IRIN the government "is not in a position to comment on these resignations at this time".

Earlier on Thursday, the parliamentarians had said they would table a motion of no confidence in the government, accusing it of corruption and failure to promote national reconciliation.

Dinari had earlier said the motion "was mischievous and meant to create confusion in the TFIs [Transitional Federal Institutions]," adding that the government was not worried about it. "The government is confident it [the motion] will fail," he said.

Meanwhile, the UIC, which controls the Somali capital Mogadishu, has denied that a plane, which landed at the city's airport on Wednesday, was carrying weapons for the group.

"The plane belonged to private businessmen and had nothing to do with us," said Shaykh Abdulkadir Ali, the first vice-chairman of the UIC. "If we were hiding anything we would not have used the airport." The plane, he said, had "a problem" landing in Balidogle airport (110 km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu) and was diverted to Mogadishu.

Analysts fear that a rise in tensions or shipment of weapons into the country could stoke tension between the transitional government and the UIC, with possible humanitarian consequences.

Somalia has had no functional central authority for the past 14 years, following the collapse in 1991 of the government of President Muhammad Siad Barre. Civil war erupted soon after Barre was toppled, as various factions and rival warlords fought for power.

The regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development - made up of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia - sponsored talks between various Somali clans and factions, culminating in the establishment of the TFG in October 2004. Initially based in Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu, the TFG later moved to Baidoa.

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