Thursday, November 14, 2013
Somalia's prime minister said on Tuesday he was
in a "constitutional" dispute with the president and was ready for
parliament to intervene to settle it.
Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid gave no details of the argument,
but any such high-level rift could damage a fledgling government that the West
says is the best in decades in the war-torn country long considered a
"failed state".
Western powers see Somalia as a launchpad for militant Islam
across east Africa and beyond, and are keen to ensure the government is stable,
even though it exerts little authority beyond the capital.
One member of parliament told Reuters that President Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud had asked Saaid to resign after he had excluded some of the
president's ministerial picks for a new cabinet.
The prime minister refused, saying he had the constitutional
right to select cabinet ministers and that only parliament could dismiss him,
the lawmaker said on condition of anonymity.
Mohamud did not comment on Saaid's statement at a news
conference he held on Tuesday.
Saaid said his disagreement with Mohamud was "a
constitutional one but not political", and that only parliament could
settle the matter.
"I request the citizens to have trust in their leaders
and the parliamentarians who have the main responsibility to resolve the
row," Saaid said.
In May, the prime minister faced a vote of confidence for
slowing down the pace of political reforms, but this was withdrawn after
Mohamud lobbied parliamentarians.
Elected in September 2012, Mohamud, a political newcomer
with a background in reconciling clan feuds, was seen as a vote for change. But
he has struggled to overcome acrimonious clan politics, corruption and a
stubborn Islamist insurgency.
Somalia is battling al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group al-Shabaab,
which was driven out of Mogadishu by an African peacekeeping force in 2011, but
has kept up a campaign of attacks against the government.