Fight erupts in Somali parliament as Sharif Hassan is forced out

While the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and AMISOM troops are engaged in a serious battle with opposing militias in Somalia, some members of the parliament have decided to hold a session after they had sign a deal about 6 months ago which would not allow any parliament sessions to be held until the end of the Transition. These MPs have decided to bring a motion to remove Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who is currently on a foreign trip in Italy.

The MPs who held the emergency meeting have stated that their decision comes after Mr. Sharif Hassan decided to ignore their decision to open parliament session due to allegations of overstepping his authority.

Members of the Parliament who support Speaker Sharif Hassan have said that there were less than 150 MPs in the Parliament hall but Mr. Nunow, who was elected as the temporary parliament Speaker for 30 days, claimed that 283 MPs were present and 280 out of 500 MPs voted to get rid of Speaker Sharif Hassan and elected him to be the temporary parliament speaker.

The MPs who support Speaker Sharif Hassan have suggested that this decision for a new Speaker of Parliament is an immature decision made by a group of MPs who oppose the Roadmap and added that they will have a session of over 300 out of 500 MPs who will re-elected Sharif Hassan as the Speaker and get rid of Speaker Nunow but only one member of the parliament who was the vice speaker Mr C/weli Ibraahim Muudey have showed up to re-elected the former speaker Sharif Hassan.

Reliable sources who are members of the parliament have said “Mr Muudey came in to the hall and sat the speaker’s chair, he announced that the session that was held yesterday was illegal and that he and Sharif Hassan are still in power and few MPs went to him and start slapping and punching him and got him down from the chair”

In the meantime the US ambassador in Kenya, Ambassador Mahiga, and few other stake holders have called Mr. Nuunow to tell him how serious the move was but then acknowledge since he got the majority vote they are willing to accept the decision from the Somali MPs and have strongly encouraged to not change anything from the roadmap.

Source: The Nomad Times