Somalia's premier survives no-confidence vote
Somalia’s prime minister survived a no-confidence vote in parliament today, just days after a group of lawmakers resigned claiming his weak administration had failed to bring peace to the chaotic nation.
The motion to remove Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi needed 139 votes to pass but only got 126. Eighty-eight lawmakers voted to keep him.
The country’s internationally recognised, but virtually powerless, government has been unravelling in recent weeks. The administration has failed to assert any power outside its base in Baidoa, 150 miles from Mogadishu, and has been wracked by infighting.
An Islamic militia, meanwhile, has seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia. But the group’s imposition of strict religious courts has raised fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime.
The US accuses the group of harbouring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
