Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned on Sunday as Somalia Prime Minister to avert further chaos in the country and because the United States and United Nations failed to support him, a US lobbyist for Somalia says.
“Given the fact that the UN and US appear indifferent to good governance in Somalia and only seem to want shallow 'happy face' agreements between the president and speaker, the prime minister felt he had no choice,” John Zagemy, a lobbyist for New York-based Park Strategies, told the Nation.
“Pure politics trumped performance.”
Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden insisted that Mr Mohamed, better known as Farmaajo, step down as specified under the terms of an agreement recently negotiated in Kampala.
Farmaajo initially refused, saying Parliament must first either accept or reject the Kampala accord. Thousands of Somalis as well as several members of Parliament crossed clan lines to voice support for Farmaajo, who had been widely seen as one of the most effective political leaders during the past 20 years of anarchy in Somalia.
But the Obama administration and the UN remained conspicuously silent on Farmaajo's status.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also played a key role in forcing Farmaajo to quit, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Uganda holds considerable sway over Somalia's Transitional Federal Government because Ugandan soldiers are the decisive element in the African Union force that is keeping the TFG from being overthrown by Islamist insurgents.
“The only glimmer of hope in this fiasco is that the interim prime minister [Abdiweli Mohamed Ali] is also a good guy who's honest and competent,” Mr Zagemy says.
“Unfortunately, those don't seem to be saving virtues in Somalia.”
Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1 ... 12mn1il/-/
