Somali PM Gedi resigns

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:51:18
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi
Somali PM has resigned following a long-running feud with the president who accused him of failing to quell insurgency in the capital.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi personally handed on Monday his resignation to President Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf who swiftly accepted it.

Critics blame Gedi for being behind the decision to invite Ethiopian forces into Somalia soil to help rescue the struggling interim government in its battle against the extremist militia.

Gedi took the helm of the transitional federal government in 2004 but often has had a fractured relationship with the president, fuelled by clan rivalries during the three years they have worked together in Somalia'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 nation of 10 million has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a conflict that has defied at least a dozen peace initiatives.

HE/BG