Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The safety of Somali families is at risk after the country’s prime minister resigned yesterday, throwing its fragile government into turmoil.
Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke stepped down, saying his infighting with President Sheikh Sharif had become a ‘security vulnerability’ in a country already struggling to fight Islamic militants and pirates.
Mr Sharmarke, 50, said his resignation came after talks with legal experts and his family. "After seeing that the political turmoil between me and the president has caused security vulnerability, I have decided to resign to save the nation and give a chance to others," he told reporters in the capital Mogadishu. Next to him stood Mr Sharif, who said his decision was "courageous".
The group launched another suicide bomb attack on the presidential palace on Monday leaving two African Union peacekeepers wounded. A Somali police spokesman told reporters the bomber tried to jump onto an African Union vehicle as a convoy of peacekeepers drove through the palace gates. When African Union troops opened fire, he threw a grenade at the peacekeepers and detonated his explosives vest. He said the bomber was a former security guard at the Interior Ministry, who recently defected to Al-Shabaab.
But another Islamist insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, also says it was behind Monday's attack.
Hizbul Islams leader in Mogadishu, Abdi Nassir Abu Hashim, says one of its members, Ali Abdullah Kheireh, also known as Dalha, carried out – in Abu Hashim's words – the "successful mission."
Al Shabaab rebels have used suicide bombers to devastating effect in Somalia over the past two years, killing five government ministers and dozens of peacekeeping troops. The group was behind attacks in Uganda in July that killed at least 79 people.
Thousands of African Union peacekeeping troops have been dispatched to support the government, but hard-line militants control a lot of Mogadishu and vast stretches of the country's south and central regions.
President Sheikh Sharif said he would nominate a new prime minister as soon as possible. It was not clear who would be candidates for the post.
The United States last week called for greater international help with troops and funding, for the African peacekeeping force in Somalia.
US ambassador Susan Rice said the United States shares the UN's "view of the exceedingly dangerous situation in Somalia."
