Garowe Online (Garowe)
16 December 2008
Somalia's embattled President Abdullahi Yusuf appointed a new Prime Minister Tuesday, worsening a political crisis that has largely crippled an ineffective interim government, Radio Garowe reports.
President Yusuf made the announcement in Baidoa, a southwestern trading town that has served as the country's seat of parliament since 2006.
More than 100 MPs attended the official naming ceremony, where Mr. Mohamed Mohamud "Gamodheere" was crowned the new - but disputed - Prime Minister.
President Yusuf told the event's attendees that he expects the new Prime Minister to "appoint a new Cabinet immediately, so they can be sworn-in."
Gamodheere, who was Interior Minister during Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's term, welcomed his new position and vowed to make changes.
"My efforts will first focus on resolving the internal dispute in Parliament," Mr. Gamodheere told the BBC Somali Service during his first interview as Prime Minister.
He defended President Yusuf for appointing him, saying: "I am hopeful that 80% of lawmakers will approve [of my appointment] because a sitting Prime Minister must have the President's consent."
Yusuf "fired" Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein on December 14, but a day later the Somali parliament approved Nur Adde's new Cabinet, which Yusuf refused to endorse.
Unlike Gedi and Nur Adde, who come from the Abgal clan of the Hawiye clan-family, new Prime Minister Gamodheere belongs to the Habar Gedir clan.
Also Tuesday, the Kenyan government announced sanctions against President Yusuf.
Moses Wetangula, Kenya's foreign minister, said Yusuf is a "spoiler to the Somali peace process."
The sanctions on Yusuf could include a travel ban and the freezing of assets, according to an Associated Press report.
The Kenyan government, which hosted the 2002-2004 peace talks that heralded Yusuf as Somali president, "only recognized" Nur Adde as the country's Prime Minister.
The political crisis between Yusuf and Nur Adde leaves Somalia's UN-backed interim government with two Prime Ministers - an especially worrying development in light of Islamist resurgence across the country.
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