Somalia: ‘92 MPs sign motion’ against Prime Minister Shirdon

MOGADISHU, Somalia May 15, 2013 (Garowe Online) – Reports from Mogadishu say that some 92 Somali MPs have signed a motion against Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon, Garowe Online reports.

Parliamentary sources tell Garowe Online that the motion was handed over to parliament’s leadership in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

The motion has not yet been formally presented for a vote in parliament however, the sources added.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who appointed Shirdon as Prime Minister in October 2012, was “not pleased” with the confidence motion against the Prime Minister.

But inside sources say that, in a meeting with Prime Minister Shirdon in Mogadishu, President Hassan reportedly complained that “some 25 MPs from Shirdon’s own Darod community had signed the motion” alongside Somali MPs from other communities.

“The President [Hassan] also told him [Shirdon] that, in visits to foreign capitals such as London, Shirdon’s Darod clansmen protest against [President] Hassan’s arrival and that Shirdon should get Darod communities to support the Somali Federal Government,” a government source in Mogadishu tells Garowe Online.

On May 12, Puntland government in northern Somalia warned against “renewed political infighting” after reports of MPs attempting to unseat Prime Minister Shirdon.

The former Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was well known for parliament brawls and controversial confidence motions against a sitting Prime Minister or President.

Via: http://www.garoweonline.com/

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