Sanctions imposed on Somalia head
The East African regional
grouping Igad has decided to impose sanctions on Somali President
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and his associates.
In a communique after a meeting
of foreign ministers in Ethiopia it backed Prime Minister Nur Hassan
Hussein, whom the president tried to dismiss.
The grouping also discussed ways
to replace Ethiopian troops when they pull out of Somalia in the
next few weeks.
African Union commission head Jean Ping said Nigeria was ready to
send troops.
Torn by internal conflict, Somalia has been without an effective
central government for more than 15 years.
Infighting
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says there was no doubt
whose side this meeting of the Inter-governmental Authority on
Development (Igad) was on.
In a place of honour on the platform was Ahmed Mohammed Goala, the
Somali prime minister's newly appointed foreign minister, not his
predecessor, who had been associated with President Abdullahi, our
correspondent says.
At the end of the meeting, the foreign ministers of the six member
states expressed their support for Mr Nur and his newly appointed
cabinet, and said they regretted the attempt by the president to
replace him last Sunday.
Mr Abdullahi said the government had been "paralysed by corruption,
inefficiency and treason" and failed to bring peace.
However, Somalia's parliament declared the sacking illegal and
passed a vote of confidence in Mr Nur by a huge majority on Monday.
In the communique issued at the end of the meeting, Igad gave its
strong backing to Mr Nur and his government.
"[Igad] regrets the attempts by President Abdullahi Yusuf to
unconstitutionally appoint a new prime minister that Igad does not
recognise, and decides to impose sanctions on him and his associates
immediately," it said.
It also called on other countries to take similar measures.
Our correspondent says that in addition to the infighting in the
Somali government, the imminent departure of Ethiopian troops from
the country overshadowed the meeting.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said his country's decision
to pull out over the coming weeks was "irrevocable".
Igad formally thanked the Ethiopians for the sacrifices they had
made to advance the cause of peace in Somalia, but made no appeal to
them to change their mind and stay.
The issue of peacekeeping will be considered further at a meeting of
the African Union's Peace and Security Council on Monday.
Ministers now have the task of trying to beef up the AU's mission in
Somalia, which will no longer have the comfort of knowing it can
call for Ethiopian back-up when needed, our correspondent adds.
At the Igad meeting, the president of the African Union Commission
said Nigeria had promised to send a battalion of about 850 soldiers
to Somalia next month, and that Burundi and Uganda would each send
an additional battalion.
Source:BBC
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