Delegates: PM 'null and void'

2003-12-09 19:28

Nairobi - Delegates at the Somali peace talks in Nairobi representing the divided Transitional National Government (TNG) on Tuesday dismissed the appointment of a new prime minister by TNG President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan as "null and void."

"These so-called elections and appointments are contrary to the Transitional National Charter adopted by the Somali National Peace Conference in Djibouti in August 2000 and are, therefore, null and void," the delegates said in statement released in Nairobi.

The statement further said that Salat had no legal basis to dismiss or replace either the speaker or the prime minister.

"One-hundred and thirty-two out of 245 members of the transitional parliament, 32 ministers and military and police commanders are currently present at the conference in Nairobi," the statement said.

"Salat is utterly mistaken in thinking that he can stay on as president forever by attempting to extend the expired mandate of the TNG and disregarding the charter on whose basis he was elected," the statement charged.

The delegates were responding to the nomination by Salat on Monday of Mohamed Abdi Yusuf as the new TNG prime minister.

On August 9, parliament in Mogadishu fired Hassan Abshir Farah after he differed with the TNG over the July 5 signing in Kenya of a controversial partial peace accord which called for a federal administration to be set up in Somalia.

Salat had accused Farah, who was the TNG's chief negotiator during the Kenya talks, of signing the accord without the authority of the government.

Farah, however said on Tuesday that he is the legitimate prime minister of Somalia.

"I can't be fired by Salat, whose mandate has already run out," Farah said, describing his one-time ally as "a person who is not appreciating peace effort by Somalis and the wider international community."

Pro-Salat MPs in Mogadishu also said they had appointed a new speaker of parliament to replace Abdalla Deerow Isaaq, who is attending peace talks in Kenya, which Salat and several warlords walked out of several months ago.

Somalia has not had a recognised government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

- SAPA