Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Somalia Transitional Federal Parliament has replaced its Speaker Sharif
Hassan Sheikh Aden after passing a vote of no confidence in him.Two hundred and eighty MPs voted for the removal of the Speaker in Mogadishu while two supported him. One MP abstained.
MP Awad Ahmed Ashareh told the Nation by
phone that MP Madobe Nunow was appointed interim Speaker for 30 days
until a substantive Speaker is elected as per the Transitional Federal
Government charter and parliamentary rules.
The MPs accused Sheik Aden of making unilateral
decisions, failing to recognise separation of powers, failing to develop
plan for Parliament’s work and lack of transparency and accountability.
However, critics questioned the legality of a
meeting that was not chaired by the Speaker or his deputies and had the
presence of 283 MPs out of a total 550 legislators.
The move could see the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia thrown into another constitutional crisis.
A power struggle hampered the activities of the TFG recently.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki moon
advised Somali leaders to work harmoniously during the remaining TFG’s
shelf-life that will expire in August 2012.
Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Tuesday in Nairobi launched a US
1.5 billion humanitarian appeal for the war-torn country.
The 2012 appeal was launched by the Humanitarian
Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, who said the money is required to
support 350 humanitarian life-saving projects to be implemented by 148
UN agencies and national and international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is the largest
in the world. Four million people lack life’s basic necessities, such as
clean water and shelter. Three million are in southern Somalia, where
famine continues to affect 250,000 people. Tens of thousands have died,
while almost 300,000 Somalis fled hunger and conflict in 2011 and
sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
"It is unacceptable that 4 million Somalis still
need assistance, that children in Somalia have the highest rate of
global malnutrition in the world, and that so many children across
Somalia have died in the past year as a result of disease and
malnutrition,” Mr Bowden said.
He added that the the situation would have been far
worse without the generosity of donors and the rapid scale-up in
response adding that adequate resources could change the situation the
country that is experiencing instability.
“The $1.5 billion appeal is a realistic assessment
of the needs. We will continue to face challenges to access and to the
delivery of assistance, but it is critical that we maintain the
momentum,” he said, adding that early and full funding for the CAP 2012
is essential to save lives.
Access to the affected population, he said, remains
the biggest challenge in the delivery of live-saving interventions. He
called on all parties to the conflict to respect humanitarian
principles, the organisations participating in the CAP will continue to
engage with new partners in 2012, many of whom have increased their
activities in the south.
The Global Humanitarian Appeal will be launched on December 14 in Geneva, Switzerland.