Somali parliament backs PM
Somalia's parliament on Monday overwhelming backed the government of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, a day after President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced his dismissal.
"143 MPs recognised the existence of the government, 20 rejected it and 7 abstained," Speaker Aden Mohamed Nur said after counting the votes during a special parliament session in the town of Baidoa.
"Therefore the government of Nur Adde (Hassan Hussein) is legitimate," he said.
On Sunday, Yusuf announced he was sacking the prime minister and the entire cabinet because they had failed to bring security to the nation, but the premier challenged the move as unconstitutional.
According to the transitional federal charter, the president needs parliament's approval to sack the prime minister.
Speaking to parliament before the vote, Nur Hassan Hussein said: "It was difficult to work with the president, who disapproved of the peace process."
"The president was interfering with the activities of the prime minister and parliament," the premier said.
"It's up to parliament to make a decision in order to save the transitional federal institutions and the rule of law," he added.
Yusuf had said Monday he would comply with parliament's decision and gave no hint he would resign should parliament confirm Hussein in his job.
The two politicians have been at odds over other issues as well.
On Sunday, Hussein accused Yusuf of seeking to scuttle a months-old UN-sponsored reconciliation process with the main political opposition group, the Islamist-dominated Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
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