The prime minister of Somalia’s transitional government, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, has resigned. Mr Ghedi told MPs of his decision after handing in his resignation to President Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf.
Mr Ghedi has been blamed for failing to quell the Islamist insurgency in Somalia and for bringing Ethiopian Woyanne troops onto Somali soil.
On Sunday, thousands fled the capital, Mogadishu, after Ethiopian Woyanne troops opened fire on protestors.
The BBC’s East Africa correspondent Karen Allen says that the prime minister’s political future has for some time hung in the balance.
She says that despite efforts to salvage his job during talks at the weekend in Ethiopia, he has agreed to step down after pressure from within Somalia and the international community, in particular from the US.
Clan rivalries
Mr Ghedi’s resignation was swiftly accepted by President Abdullahi Yusuf.
The pair have had a fractured relationship fuelled by clan rivalries during the three years they have worked together in Somalia’s transitional government. Mr Ghedi is from the Hawiye clan, which is dominant in Mogadishu and is the largest in the country.
President Yusuf is from the breakaway northern state of Puntland and comes from the Darod clan, the country’s second largest.
Observers say the fear is that with Mr Ghedi gone, the Hawiye will now be even more united in their opposition to Mr Yusuf’s transitional government.
Aides close to the president said that the resignation was part of a deal to end what he called the political confusion in Somalia.
The Ethiopians Woyanne, seen as rivals by many Somalis, have been fighting alongside Somali troops to try and restore order to the fractured country, but many see them as inflaming tensions.
Somalia has been without an effective government since civil war began in 1991, but has seen a surge in violence since Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted Islamists last December.
The UN says some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu in the past four months.
5 thoughts on “Somali prime minister steps down”
This is another blow to the dying terrorist TPLF regime. The leader of the terrorist group in Addis Ababa, Prime Murderer Meles, tried every thing it could to keep his stooge and right hand man in Somalia in power. However, that effort failed and failed miserably at the insistence of the U.S. to see Gedi’s back. That shows a widening rift between the U.S. and terrorist TPLF that is terrorizing the Ethiopian people and the Horn of Africa at large. No surprise, as the U.S. gets more involved in the region, they get a better understanding of the situation in the Horn of Africa and the destructive and destabilizing role terrorist TPLF is playing in the region just for the sole purpose of staying in power. As the U.S. gets more understanding, the whole equation in the region changes and hopefully it will change for the better. We have started to see those changes and the fact that terrorist TPLF’s right hand man and the most trusted henchman in Moquadisho is forced out of his office attests to this fact. The plan terrorist TPLF has been trying to implement in Somalia is unraveling fast and it will be driven out of Somalia very soon. As the African countries are educating themselves more and more about the intentions of terrorist TPLF in Somalia, they are refusing to contribute peacekeeping forces. The funeral and burial of terrorist TPLF will soon be held in Somalia and as a result the people of Ethiopia will soon be free and start their journey together to genuine freedom and democracy.
Awoke
Weyane installed a good for nothing Somali Prime Minster, Gedi, and Weyane dismisses him. No surprize there..
Maybe it is time for Meles to find “Aba Dula Gemeda” OR “Kuma Demeksa” for the Somalis. He might as well rename one Tigrean as “Gedi” or “Yusouf” and continue the tradition of Woyane occupation!!! Meles is the master of deception – pathological intriguer and evil!!
This is another blow to the dying terrorist TPLF regime. The leader of the terrorist group in Addis Ababa, Prime Murderer Meles, tried every thing he could to keep his stooge and right hand man in Somalia in power. However, that effort failed and failed miserably at the insistence of the U.S. to see Gedi’s back. That shows a widening rift between the U.S. and terrorist TPLF that is terrorizing the Ethiopian people and the Horn of Africa at large. No surprise, as the U.S. gets more involved in the region, they get a better understanding of the situation in the Horn of Africa and the destructive and destabilizing role terrorist TPLF is playing in the region just for the sole purpose of staying in power. As the U.S. gets more understanding, the whole equation in the region will change and hopefully it will change for the better. We have started to see those changes and the fact that terrorist TPLF’s right hand man and the most trusted henchman in Moquadisho is forced out of his office attests to this fact. The people of Somalia are also taking to the streets their hate and disdain for terrorist TPLF and its terrorist militia deployed in Somalia. The TPLF terrorist militia is terrorizing and is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Somalia and these acts of barbarism have been recorded by a number of independent international human rights groups, the UN Human Rights Council and independent newspapers such as the worldwide respected New York Times and The Washington Post. Rest assured that these heinous crimes and the terrorism TPLF is committing against the Ethiopian people will get Meles and his culprits their days in the court either in Ethiopia or the Hague, Netherlands, sooner than latter. Terrorist-in-chief Meles is no different from Charles Taylor and in fact terrorist Meles has been committing much worse crimes against humanity than Charles Taylor. The blockade of humanitarian assistances and commercial goods to our Ogadeni brothers is yet another recent example of the collective punishment terrorist TPLF is imposing on the Ethiopian people. However, the plan terrorist TPLF has been trying to implement in Somalia is unraveling fast and it will be driven out of Somalia very soon. The insurgency in Somalia against this invading terrorist TPLF militia is growing by the day. As the African countries are educating themselves more and more about the intentions of terrorist TPLF in Somalia, they are refusing to contribute peacekeeping forces and it is now close to a year. The funeral and burial of terrorist TPLF will soon be held in Somalia and as a result the peoples of Ethiopia and Somalia will soon be free of terrorist invaders and start their journey together to genuine freedom and democracy in their respective countries. Other peace loving peoples of the region will also be free of TPLF terrorism and the region as the whole will embark on building peace, democracy and economic development making it one of the peaceful, thriving and enviable corners of the world. Awoke
It is a clear message to the TPLF’s regime. Still not too late to reconsider what kinds of messes they are creating in Somalia. The worst is its subsequent consequences to our beloved country, Ethiopia.
Let God breathes into the mind of the masterpiece of all these things(Ato Melese)and help him think of something non-devilish.
Yididiya