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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Mogadishu, Somalia (APA) - The Kenyan Foreign Affairs minister, Moses Wetangula on Tuesday said that Kenya opposes the move by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf to fire his premier and his entire cabinet and threatened to impose sanctions on him and other Somali leaders who are undermining the peace process in the lawless country.
President Yusuf fired Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and his cabinet on Sunday and on Tuesday appointed a close ally, Mohamoud Mohamed Gouled to replace Hussein, who on Monday received overwhelming backing from lawmakers following his dismissal.
The move is likely to worsen the infighting in the government, which has already been made ineffective by the power wrangles.
Wetangula said that the Kenyan government will only recognize Hussein as the Prime Minister adding that Kenya is unhappy with the decision by the Somali President to fire the cabinet.
“The region and international community should act in unison to collectively condemn all spoilers of the Somali peace process,” said the minister while addressing reporters in Nairobi.
He said that Kenya supports the decision made by member countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) last month to impose sanctions on Somali leaders who are the stumbling blocks to peace in the country.
He said that Kenya will impose sanctions on the families, partner and friends of the Somali leaders if they continue to threaten the peace process. Those sanctions he said include a travel ban and the freezing of assets in Kenya that are owned by Somali leaders.
Wetangula said that Kenya is taking the move as it suffers the brunt of the lawlessness in the neighbouring country.
Meanwhile, President Mwai Kibaki has appointed a former agriculture minister, Kipruto Arap Kirwa as an IGAD peace facilitator in Somali in line with the agreement reached by the six member states in a conference held in Nairobi in late October to “audit” the performance of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia.
Kirwa’s responsibility will be mainly to lead peace efforts in Somalia and he will be based in the African Union offices in Ethiopia.
The IGAD member countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
Source: APA, Dec 16, 2008