Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi resigned following a long-running feud with the president, as the country sank deeper into a political, security and humanitarian crisis. Gedi’s decision came amid an upsurge in violence in the capital Mogadishu that has seen thousands of residents flee fighting between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops. He handed his resignation letter to President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who immediately appointed Gedi’s deputy, Salim Aliyow Ibrow, to the leadership post in the Horn of Africa nation on an interim basis. Gedi, 55, took the helm of the transitional federal government in November 2004 but has often been at loggerheads with Yusuf. Yusuf had been pushing parliament to oust the premier for failing to end the Islamist-led insurgency, draft a new constitution and bolster federal government. Critics also blame Gedi for being behind the decision to invite Ethiopian forces into Somalia to help rescue the struggling government in its battle against an Islamist militants.
SOMALI PREMIER RESIGNS
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi resigned following a long-running feud with the president, as the country sank deeper into a political, security and humanitarian crisis. Gedi’s decision came amid an upsurge in violence in the capital Mogadishu that has seen thousands of residents flee fighting between Islamist
