mogadishu: Somalia’s president has instructed his cabinet to ignore a reshuffle by the prime minister, highlighting a possible rift at a time when Somalia is looking to build confidence in its government and reassure donors.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement on Saturday that the prime minister, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, had not consulted him on the changes and declared them null and void.
“Ministers should stay in their previous offices and the security forces should redouble their work and keep on tightening security,” the statement said.
As part of the reshuffle, justice minister Farah Abdiqadir, a close ally of Mohamud, had been reassigned as minister for livestock.
Somalia is attempting to rebuild itself after two decades of civil war and lawlessness triggered by the overthrow of president Siad Barre in 1991. The fragile government is being backed by international aid aimed at preventing it from becoming a haven for Al Qaeda-style militants in east Africa.
Ahmed, who previously worked at the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia, was named prime minister last December. His predecessor was forced out by lawmakers in a vote of no confidence after falling out with Mohamud over the composition of a new cabinet.
DUBAI: Iranian security forces have released leading human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was detained after leading a protest against what she called unfair legal practices in the Islamic Republic, she said yesterday.
The lawyer and activist was picked up along with several friends on Saturday on their way back from a sit-in outside Tehran’s Bar Association in Tehran. They were freed after a brief background check, leaving only Sotoudeh in custody.
“I was held for seven hours and then set free,” she said by telephone from Tehran.
“There were two men from the intelligence ministry, meeting me separately. I told them I wouldn’t answer any question because they had no court order.”
The 51-year-old Sotoudeh came to prominence after her arrest in 2010 during a government crackdown on protests against ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection.
Found guilty on charges of conspiracy against state security, she was sentenced to six years in prison and a three-year ban on practicing law. She staged a 50-day hunger strike in jail to protest against a travel ban on her daughter drew international attention and pressure to secure her freedom. Reuters
