Somalia’s Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, on Friday appointed seven new ministers as he started replacing the 38 who quit in the past week to protest against the deployment of Ethiopian troops to protect his 18-month-old administration.
Government spokesperson Abdirahman Mohamed Nur Dinari said Gedi made the appointments after consulting elders and lawmakers who support him at the transitional federal assembly, sitting in the town of Baidoa, about 250km north-west of the capital, Mogadishu.
”Following the powers given by the Constitution, the prime minister has appointed seven members of the Cabinet,” Dinari said explaining that the premier will continue consulting to replace the remaining 31.
Of the 38 who resigned, 22 were full ministers and 16 were deputies. The prime minister has yet to replace assistant ministers, he added.
”They are all MPs; none of them is from the Islamic courts,” Dinari added.
Gedi made the appointments nearly a week after he survived a vote of no confidence.
The motion was tabled to protest against his policies, including the deployment of Ethiopian troops to protect the government from a feared advance by a powerful Islamic militia that controls much of southern Somalia, including the capital.
The Islamists, who have refused peace talks with the government until Ethiopian troops are withdrawn, have urged the ministers who resigned to change camp and join them.
The Somali government, appointed in Kenya in late 2004 after more than two years of peace talks, was seen as the best chance for the lawless country to begin reunifying.
The Horn of Africa nations, home to 10-million people, has been wracked by anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, giving rise to unruly warlords who were evicted from their territories by the Islamists last month.
A total of 14 internationally backed initiatives had earlier failed to produce a government. Analysts blamed the failures on the warlords, who obtained weapons and other forms of support from neighbouring countries despite a United Nations arms embargo. — Sapa-AFP