New Somali cabinet sworn in
2006-08-23 10:51
Baidoa - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Tuesday swore in a new, scaled-down cabinet to replace a dissent-riddled, two-year-old government dissolved earlier this month, and warned it to deliver or be axed.
The 31-strong team read their oaths in the south central town of Baidoa as tensions remained high between the weak transitional administration and Somalia's newly dominant Islamists over fresh charges that neighbouring Ethiopia had sent troops to support the government.
Ahmed said: "You have been assigned to the task of establishing a viable and working government that will carry out its responsibility and implement its mandate according to the transitional federal charter.
"If you fail to do so, you will follow other ministers in the previous government who were sacked. Therefore, I am urging you to work for the people of Somalia honestly."
15 years of fighting
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said the Somali people, who had borne the brunt of 15 years of fighting, expected more from the new cabinet that was named after lengthy consultations with influential Somali elders to replace one that disbanded on August 07 after mass resignations.
Prior to its sacking, the former cabinet was torn apart by disagreements over whether to engage the dominant Islamic militia in the Arab League-mediated peace talks in Khartoum.
Gedi said: "The previous government was blamed for not fulfilling its duties, therefore, I am urging you to be more responsible and responsive to the needs of the Somali people. People are expecting a lot from the new cabinet."
The new cabinet retained just a handful of members in key posts, notably former warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid as interior minister, and saw fresh faces in the national security, defence, finance and foreign affairs portfolios.
Ex-rebel leader becomes foreign minister
Newcomer Abdullahi Garun took the national security post, while the defence chief would be Barre Adan Shire, commander of the Juba Valley Alliance militia that controlled areas along Somalia's southwestern border with Kenya.
Ismail Muhumed Buba, a former northern rebel leader, would serve as foreign minister and Hassan Mohamed Shatigudud, was shifted from the agriculture to the finance ministry.
The most prominent exclusion was former public works minister Osman Hassan Ali Atto, an ex-Mogadishu warlord, who had lent his support to the Islamists.
The new cabinet was sworn in as the dominant Islamic militia that held sway over much of southern and central Somalia claimed that Ethiopia troops, who had already been reported in Baidoa, allegedly entered a village in central Somalia.
Somalia had been without a functioning central authority for the past 16 years since the ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the Horn of Africa nation of some 10 million people into anarchy.