Ali Musa Abdi

Six more Somali government ministers resigned on Tuesday citing the 18-month-old administration’s "unpopularity" officials said. The resignations of Culture Minister Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, Water and Natural Resources Minister Muhamoud Salat Nur and four assistant ministers brought to 24 the number of ministers who have quit the 102-member Cabinet.

Thousands of angry Somali Muslims on Friday denounced the United States and a US-backed warlord alliance fighting Islamic militia in the lawless capital, Mogadishu, vowing to destroy their opponents. Chanting anti-US slogans and comparing President George Bush to a Nazi, about 5 000 Muslims gathered in southern Mogadishu.