The transitional government of Somalia Tuesday lost 12 more ministers who protested at delays in planned talks with Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC).

 

Fisheries Minister Hassan Abshir Farah said the prime minister's decision to postpone the talks was unacceptable. "We had no option but to resign because we believe if the talks are postponed again it will affect the reconciliation efforts," Farah said in a statement.

 

Last week 18 ministers left the Somali government, accusing it of being unwilling to open peace talks.

 

Analysts said the resignations aimed to exert pressure on the prime minister to reshuffle his cabinet or step down.

 

But government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari played down the resignations, saying that the ministers who quit were among the lawmakers who voted against the prime minister and were about to be sacked.

 

"Those who resigned were ministers and assistant ministers who voted in parliament against the prime minister. They knew they were about to be sacked and that is why they decided to resign before the sacking," he said yesterday by telephone from Baidoa, where the embattled government based.

 

"They just jumped out of the window before they were shown the door. The posts will be filled within a week before the planned talks with Islamic courts in Khartoum," Dinari added.

 

Dinari said the latest resignations would not discourage the government from performing its work and Gedi "had no reason to resign, since he won the vote of confidence."

 

Talks with the SCIC, which holds much of the country, were due to take place yesterday in Khartoum, Sudan. Gedi had requested the mediators, the League of Arab States, to postpone the talks for 15 days to allow him fill the positions left vacant following the resignations.

 

The transitional federal government was created in Kenya in 2004 following lengthy reconciliation talks hosted by Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which comprises Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

 

Somalia has had no effective national government since 1991 when the administration led by Muhammad Siad Barre was overthrown.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2006)