Monday, April 26, 2010

Pressure mounts on Speaker of Somali Parliament

Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur alias Sheikh Aden Madobe, the Speaker of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Parliament, has insisted that he is the legitimate leader of the legislative house.

His Saturday statement appears to be a response to a large group of MPs who met in Mogadishu on Friday, demanding his replacement.
At a press conference in Mogadishu, Sheikh Aden Madobe has reiterated that despite rhetoric, he remains the elected Speaker of the House. He hinted that there are meetings taking place at Villa Somalia, the State House in the Somali capital, which is geared to clear the differences among legislators.

Legislators’ meet
The MPs, who had a meeting on Friday that numbered 300 and clearly constituted the majority of the 550 members, vowed to elect a new speaker if Sheikh Aden Madobe attempted to chair the next meeting that was scheduled to take place by press time yesterday. An earlier meeting held in Mogadishu on Thursday was assumed to have convinced Sheikh Aden Madobe, to accept that Parliament holds a session yesterday.
The legislatives meetings have been suspended for a long time due to unexplained reasons.

New development
The new development emerged when a landmark meeting was held at Villa Somalia with the participation of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and Sheikh Aden Madobe.

Sources close to the meeting indicated that Sheikh Aden Madobe could no longer ignore increasing demand from parliamentarians that the Speaker should face a vote of confidence or even a revolt by rebel MPs holding a voting.

On Tuesday, Sheikh Aden Madobe stated that he would only step down if it is in the interest of the Somali people. The rift among MPs is the most serious in the Transitional Federal Government since the current coalition was set up just over a year ago.

Source: Daily Monitor

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