Somalia’s government was near collapse Sunday as Islamic insurgents accused of having ties to al-Qaida vowed never to negotiate or share power with the Western-backed administration.
Somalia’s president fired the prime minister Sunday, saying he failed to bring security to a nation struggling with a violent insurgency and political turmoil.
President Abdullahi Yusuf announced the decision in Baidoa, one of the few towns the government still controls. Islamic militants have taken over most of the country.
"The government has been paralyzed by corruption, inefficiency and treason," Yusuf said. He will name a new prime minister in three days, he said.
Hours later, Sheik Muktar Robow, a spokesman for the al-Shabab insurgent group, held a news conference in the capital, Mogadishu, in brazen disregard for the government.
"We will never talk to the government and will never accept any political power sharing, our aim is only to see Islamic law running this country," Robow said.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictatorship and then turned on one another. Thousands of civilians have been killed since early 2007, when Islamic militants began a brutal insurgency.
The Prime Minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, said he will challenge his dismissal. The president needs parliament’s approval to remove the prime minister, but Yusuf said legally there is no government in place anyway because two-thirds of the ministers have already resigned.