Somali Parliament Disbands Prime Minister and Cabinet, Elsewhere in Mogadishu 11 Killed and 45 Injured
May 16, 2010
Story Highlights
Somalia's government collapses by parliamentary vote
11 people die and 45 wounded as shells fired at parliament building
Parliamentary speaker's thrown out
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The country's parliament has passed a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke on Sunday, forcing him and the cabinet to resign.
The fall of the government came almost a month after a dispute among Somali MPs and Speaker of Parliament Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur created a deadlock. These resignations are an enormous blow an already weak government that has yet to restore stability in the war-torn horn of Africa nation.
Of the 300 legislators attending parliament, 280 voted against the government, according to Nur.
"Thirty refused and eight abstained, so the government has collapsed," he told reporters. "The president will appoint an effective premier within thirty days," he added.
Shortly after the prime minister's government collapsed, more than 300 MPs voted against the speaker of the parliament.
"The speaker's term has already ended and we voted that he is no longer the speaker," Omar Islow, an MP, told reporters.
"We shall elect a new interim speaker soon," he added.
Elsewhere in Mogadishu insurgents fired mortar shells at the parliament building, which prompted retaliatory fire from the Somali government troops and African Union peacekeeping soldiers, according to rescue workers.
"We have collected eleven dead bodies and forty-five wounded people today," Ali Muse, an ambulance service coordinator, told The Tiziano Project.
"Most of those people died in the Bakara market," he added.
Somalia has been without a central government for 20 years after clan militias and warlords overthrew the dictatorial regime of Siad Barre and then turned on each other, plunging the nation into continued anarchy and war.
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Tags:
Africa, African Union, Bakaara Market, MOGADISHU, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Parliament, Prime minister, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur, Siad Barre, Somalia, somalia government, somalia government collapse, somalia shelling, somalia wounded
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