Monday, February 23, 2009

Somali parliament endorses new cabinet

Somali lawmakers meeting in neighboring Djibouti have overwhelming approved the newly formed cabinet of Premier Omar Abbdirashid Shermarke, paving the way for the relocation of the new government to the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Nearly 357 lawmakers out of the 375 present at the session voted in favor of the cabinet while 16 voted against it and two abstained, said Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur "Madobe," Parliament Speaker after the vote.

Four of the ministers did not attend both the swearing in ceremony on Saturday and the parliament session to endorse it. Two of them are currently in Mogadishu including the interior minister Abdulkadir Ali Omar while the other two announced their resignation from their posts in protest at what they saw as "under representation" of their clan in the new cabinet.

Somali Prime Minister Shermarke named the 36 ministers for his new government of national unity on Friday and it is expected to relocate to Mogadishu sometime next week.

The new government faces the daunting task of making peace with hardline Islamist groups such as the Al-Shabaab and Hezbul Islam which are opposed to the new government and vowed to fight it.

Al-Shabaab, which is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, controls much of southern and central Somalia and wants to rule the war-torn Horn of African nation by the Koran, the holy book of Islam.

Source: Xinhua

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