By OSCAR OBONYO
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA: Tension remains high in
war-torn Somalia after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud asked Prime Minister Abdi
Farar Shirdon to resign last week.
The development is a major blow to Somalia, which has
experienced a rare period of political stability for the past year, since the
new negotiated government was set up with the backing of the United Nations and
the international community.
Sources within the Somalia government say the President
asked the Premier to resign on grounds that Shirdon was ineffective in his job.
But the adamant Prime Minister has declined to leave office and has instead
called for Parliament’s intervention, terming his attempted ouster
unconstitutional.
Addressing Parliament three days ago, Shirdon told MPs
that he had a “constitutional dispute” with President Mohamud, but did not
elaborate. Sources within government have, however, disclosed to The Standard
On Sunday that the rift between the President and Premier was political power
struggle.
According to the sources, the leaders agreed on the need
for a Cabinet reshuffle to improve effectiveness of government, but the
President disapproved of the list crafted by the Premier insisting he redrafts
the same to include specific individuals. “It is at this
point that the PM indicated the move was unconstitutional and asked the
President not to interfere with his work. What followed was a demand by the
President that the PM should resign,” explained our source, who is a senior
staffer in the PM’s office.
Abused hospitality
Sources close to the two leaders confirmed to The
Standard On Sunday that the situation remains unresolved as of this weekend – a
development that is of grave concern to Somalia’s neighbours in the Horn of
Africa region, especially Kenya.
The move comes at a time when Kenya is in the process of
sending Somali nationals living in refugee camps in northern Kenya back home. The
government considers the refugee camps as havens for Somali extremists and has
called for hundreds of thousands of refugees to return home.
“Some of these refugees have abused our hospitality
and kindness to plan and launch terror attacks from the safety of the refugee
camps. This cannot and should not be allowed to continue,” Interior minister,
Joseph ole Lenku, said recently.
He was reacting to reports that one of the suspects of
Nairobi’s Westgate mall attack lived in one of the refugee camps, where he
reportedly strategized for the deadly blast.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees records, Kenya hosts an estimated 640,000 refugees.
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