Somali PM voted out of office by parliament

MOGADISHU -- Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed was removed from office after the Parliament on Saturday voted him out of office in a motion of no confidence against his government, parliament speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari said.

The speaker announced the result in a very moment of tense in the parliament where the two rival groups of the lawmakers had fought in dispute of the same motion before the PM convinced his supporters to accept the voting.

"Today the parliament continued its session to discuss the motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister Abdiweli. We first gave their chances to the remaining MPs that didn't suggest their speeches on last Thursday," the speaker said.

"After all the efforts we started voting, 235 members of the parliament were present, 153 of them voted for the motion against the PM and 80 of them voted against the motion and supported the PM, only 2 abstained from voting," he said, adding that "the PM and his cabinet officials lost the confidence of the parliament".

The PM was nominated 11 months ago when his predecessor Abdi Farah Shirdon was sacked by the parliament after he was accused of failing to fulfill his duty. The PM is known to be in conflict with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and ministers allied to him.

Efforts by the international community and the speaker of the parliament to mediate the PM and the president failed after the PM refused to compromise from a reshuffle he made in the cabinet, which affected the former minister of Justice Farah Abdulkader, the president's right hand man.

The speaker told the president to nominate a new PM in 30 days and until that nomination the sacked PM will serve as caretaker of the office.

The dismissed PM is the 10th Somali prime minister in 10 years and he is the second prime minister of the new Somali government, which the world recognized for the first time in two decades.