From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2008 - 08:53:30 EDT
Somali president reinstates sacked Mogadishu mayor Fri 1 Aug 2008, 9:54 GMT
MOGADISHU, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Somalia's president has reinstated the sacked
mayor of Mogadishu, a government official said on Friday, exposing a rift at
the top of the government.
Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein fired Mohamed Dheere, a powerful former
warlord with close ties to President Abdullahi Yusuf, on Wednesday over the
alleged misuse of public funds and worsening insecurity in the capital.
Dheere had said he was happy to step down -- but only as long as Yusuf
endorsed Hussein's order that he must go.
"The president said Mohamed Dheere remains the governor as well as the mayor
of Mogadishu," a senior government official, who asked not to be named, told
Reuters.
"The president said ... the prime minister's dismissal of the mayor was not
constitutional."
Dheere has run the anarchic city since early 2007 and his militia has been
heavily involved in fighting Islamist rebels.
The insurgents have launched near-daily attacks on Yusuf's transitional
administration and its Ethiopian military allies. Somalia has not had a
functioning central government since 1991.
In the latest attack blamed on the rebels, a roadside bomb killed a Ugandan
soldier on Friday. The victim was a member of a small African Union
peacekeeping force based in the capital.
Violence in the Horn of Africa nation has killed more than 8,000 civilians
and driven 1 million more from their homes since allied Somali-Ethiopian
forces kicked a hardline Islamist group out of Mogadishu at the start of
last year. (Writing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Daniel Wallis) (For
full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit:
http://africa.reuters.com/)
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