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by Mustafa Haji Abdinur
29 October, 2007
MOGADISHU (AFP) - Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi resigned Monday following a long-running feud with the president, as the country sank deeper into a political, security and humanitarian crisis.
Gedi's decision came amid an upsurge in violence in the capital Mogadishu that has seen thousands of residents flee fighting between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops.
He handed his resignation letter to President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who immediately appointed Gedi's deputy, Salim Aliyow Ibrow, to the leadership post in the Horn of Africa nation on an interim basis.
"I congratulate Mr Gedi for his decision," Yusuf told lawmakers, adding that he would hold consultations with members of parliament and Somali civil society before choosing a new premier.
Gedi, 55, took the helm of the transitional federal government in November 2004 but has often been at loggerheads with Yusuf. The men come from Somalia's two main, rival clans.
"My only intention is to safeguard the transitional institutions in order to bring stability to Somalia. After consultations with my people and the international community, I proudly decided to resign," Gedi told parliament.
"I will assist any appointed prime minister and support him in the battle against insecurity. I urge all MPs to work together as one body and I thank you for support during my tenure," he added.
Yusuf had been pushing parliament to oust the premier for failing to end the Islamist-led insurgency, draft a new constitution and bolster federal government.
Critics also blame Gedi for being behind the decision to invite Ethiopian forces into Somalia to help rescue the struggling government in its battle against an Islamist militants.
Since an Islamist movement that had controlled large parts of the country was defeated earlier this year, fundamentalist fighters and tribal allies have waged a ruthless guerrilla conflict in Mogadishu.
One of the main sources of opposition to Gedi's government has come from his own Hawiye clan, which is dominant in Mogadishu and is the largest in the country.
Yusuf is from what has now become the breakaway northern state of Puntland and comes from the rival Darod clan, the country's second largest.
"We are in a system where there are no longer any institutional rules... and serious shortcomings in the transitional charter," a senior official from Gedi's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Now we're headed towards a ... state run by a predatory family."
The nation of 10 million has lacked any functional government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a conflict that has defied at least a dozen peace initiatives.
The violence surged over the weekend, with Ethiopian and Somali government forces venturing deep into southern neighbourhoods to hunt insurgents, forcing hundreds to flee the depopulated and desolate capital.
At least 10 civilians were killed in various incidents -- including one in which Ethiopian troops opened fire on demonstrators protesting against their presence in Somalia, witnesses and police sources said.
In a further sign of the deteriorating security situation, a Japanese chemical tanker with 23 Korean, Filipino and Myanmar crew on board was hijacked Sunday off the coast of northern Somalia.
As hundreds of families began stampeding out of Mogadishu on Saturday, Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb urged residents of some neighbourhoods to evacuate their homes as an intensified security sweep was planned.
"If the mayor called the people to flee, then what is next? There could be bombing as happened before, we are leaving this hell," said Husein Bulle, leading his three-year-old son through the streets.
The past three days have seen hundreds of families streaming out of southern Mogadishu, bundling household items and other belongings into pick-up trucks and on donkey carts.
Many make for neighbouring towns already plagued by dire food shortages.