Somalia's president quits office
Abdullahi Yusuf was appointed president four years ago
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Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf
has told parliament he has resigned - a move which adds to the chaos in
the country as Ethiopian troops withdraw.
Mr Yusuf's resignation follows a power struggle with Prime
Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who parliament backed after Mr Yusuf tried
to sack him.
Ethiopian soldiers, who support the government, are due to pull out this week, raising fears of a power vacuum.
Various Islamist and nationalist groups control most of southern Somalia.
The president had clashed in recent months with Mr
Nur over attempts to negotiate a peace deal with the Islamist-led armed
opposition.
Some diplomats suggest that Mr Yusuf's resignation might enhance the prospects of a deal with moderate Islamists.
BBC Somali service editor Yusuf Garaad says the president's
departure has removed one obstacle to peace but it is unclear what
happens next, especially if the government collapses altogether.
Mr Yusuf is reported to have flown out of Baidoa, where
parliament is based, to his home region - the semi-autonomous area of
Puntland in the north.
Speaker of parliament Aden Mohamed Nur becomes acting president until a new leader is named.
Mr Yusuf was chosen by MPs four years ago at the end of a long
process that was supposed to bring peace to Somalia, which has not had
an effective national government since 1991.
But government forces only control parts of the capital, Mogadishu, and the town of Baidoa.
'Failed in duty'
Mr Nur said he had accepted the president's resignation.
"I congratulate the president for the bold step he has taken in
respect of the transitional federal charter," the AFP news agency
reports him as saying.
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SOMALIA'S WOES
3m need food aid - a third of the population
1m displaced
Government only controls Baidoa
Islamist groups control much of southern Somalia
No effective government since 1991
Piracy on the rise
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Mr Yusuf told MPs in Baidoa: "As I promised when you elected me on
October 14, 2004, I would stand down if I failed to fulfil my duty, I
have decided to return the responsibility you gave me."
In his speech, broadcast on national radio, he said: "When I took power I pledged three things.
"If I was unable to fulfil my duty I will resign. Second, I said
I will do everything in my power to make government work across the
country. That did not happen either.
"Third, I asked the leaders to co-operate with me for the
common good of the people. That did not happen," he said, according to
Associated Press news agency.
Last week, Mohamed Mahamud Guled, who Mr Yusuf tried to install
as prime minister, resigned saying his appointment was destabilising
the government.
Mr Yusuf had faced criticism for appointing Mr Guled in
defiance of Somali MPs, who overwhelmingly rejected the dismissal of
his predecessor.
Mr Guled said he had chosen to resign "so that I am not seen as a stumbling block to the peace process which is going well now".
The regional grouping, Igad, which brokered the talks leading to
Mr Yusuf's election, this month imposed sanctions on him, calling him
an obstacle to peace.
Fighting between the Ethiopia-backed government and the
insurgents has left some one million people homeless and much of
Mogadishu deserted.
Some three million people - a third of the population - need food aid.
And the lack of leadership has led to a surge in piracy off the Somali coast.
A small African Union peacekeeping force is based in Mogadishu
but analysts say they would be unable to withstand an Islamist advance.
The UN has rejected calls to send its own mission to Somalia.
from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7802622.stm
Somalia: Legislators Flee From Baidoa
28 December 2008
Baidoa — Some Somali parliamentarians have left from Baidoa to
northern Somali regions for security grounds, radio Shabelle's Muhidin
Husni reported on Sunday.
Two planes took some legislators from Baidoa airport to Puntland and Somaliland regions.
The parliamentarians said they feared for their security and decided to leave Baidoa, the seat of the transitional parliament.
They had closed door meeting with Somali president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed in the state house of Baidoa before their departure.
Somali MP Mohamed Osman Maye was the first MP who was killed outside a mosque in the town of Baido on 9 September 2008.
The deputy minister for reconciliation, Ismail Hassan Timir has been assassinated in Baido last night (Saturday).
The Ethiopian troops who are protecting the transitional government
are expected to withdraw from Somalia, which leaves the
parliamentarians in a dangerous place.
from
http://allafrica.com/stories/200812280006.html
also
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/3902640/Berlins-view-of-Somaliland-dispute---Dec-29-1938.html
Berlin's view of Somaliland dispute - Dec 29, 1938
It is stated in all quarters here, with remarkable unanimity, that there is
not the slightest danger of the Franco-Italian dispute developing into war.
Last Updated: 5:36PM GMT 22 Dec 2008
There seems to be a general conviction in Government circles that Signor
Mussolini, with the support of Germany, will obtain some sort of
satisfaction.
At the same time, the possibility of a Four-Power conference between Germany,
Italy, France and Britain to discuss Italy’s demands in Somaliland and the
Mediterranean is being talked about and was the subject of conversations in
German Government quarters to-day.
It was emphasised that everything would depend on the result of Mr.
Chamberlain’s talks in Rome, but, failing an earlier settlement, it was
suggested that a conference on the lines of that at Munich might be the best
way of dealing with the dispute.
PRESS ATTACKS
Meanwhile the German and Italian Governments will remain in close contact. If
the situation at the end of January does not justify a visit to Rome by
Field-Marshal Goering, a meeting may, it is stated, take place between Herr
von Ribbentrop and Count Ciano, the German and Italian Foreign Ministers.
The German press to-night attacks various British newspapers, including THE
DAILY TELEGRAPH AND MORNING POST, for printing reports about the alleged
massing of Italian troops within the French Somaliland frontier and other
disturbing developments.
[The statement published in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AND MORNING POST from a
French Correspondent was not that Italian troop were massing in French
Somaliland, but that six posts in French territory had been occupied by 400
or 500 Italian soldiers for the last 12 months, and that certain Italian
military movements were now in progress in Abyssinia.]
This “agitation,” as it is called, is compared with the reports about the
alleged landing of German troops in Morocco which led to the tension between
Germany and France two years ago.
“FIVE OFFENSIVES”
The foreign Press is also taken to task in an interview with Herr Dietrich,
Reich Press Chief, published in the “ Voelkischer Beobachter “ this morning.
He said that five great “ Press offensives “ had been launched against Germany
in 1938. They were:
The “atrocity” campaign about the changes in the German army announced on Feb.
4;
The attempt to prevent the incorporation of Austria into the Reich;
The reports about the alleged German mobilisation against Czechoslovakia on
May 21;
The attacks at the time of the September crisis; and
The “all-Jewish offensive” in November.
All these “ Press lies,” declared Herr Dietrich, had only played into
Germany’s hands.
I congratulate the president for the bold step he has taken
