Gedi arrives in Addis Ababa for talks

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Baidoa, Somalia - Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Wednesday flew to Addis Ababa for talks as the country grappled with a power struggle pitting him and President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed against one another.

"The prime minister has gone to Ethiopia for consultations," a top official in Gedi's office told reporters.

Yusuf is pushing parliament to oust Gedi on accusations that he has failed in his responsibility, including ending insurgency raging in the capital Mogadishu, formulating a new constitution and installing a federal system of government.

"The prime minister is a liability to this government and he has done nothing in the past two-and-half years. It is good for him to resign," said a lawmaker who supports Yusuf.

But Gedi's allies accused the president of undermining the premier.

"The accusations against the prime minister are fictitious and are masterminded by people who are unhappy with his performance," Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle told reporters.

"Gedi is a genuine prime minister undermined by elements who have done nothing for the nation," Jelle said.

Somali lawmakers, sitting in the southcentral town of Baidoa, failed to start a discussion on the fate of Gedi and instead adjourned to Saturday, the speaker Aden Mohamed Nur told the assembly.

Clan rivalries have fueled seemingly endless and bloody power struggles in Somalia since the nation acquired its independence in 1960.

Conflict flared after the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Since then, Somalia has had no central authority and defied dozens of initiatives to restore stability.

Yusuf, a former president of the self-declared northern state of Puntland, is a former warlord from the Darod clan, one of Somalia's two biggest clans.

Gedi is from the other major clan, the Hawiye, which is dominant in Mogadishu. His government last year suffered mass resignations which forced him to reshuffle his cabinet.