Two-thirds of Somali ministers quit cabinet

Two thirds of Somalia's cabinet ministers resigned on Saturday, officials said, widening a rift between the president and prime minister that threatens to open a fresh political rift and undermine fledgling truce efforts.

"I have resigned because the government has failed to implement its programs and has gone against the charter," Khadija Mohammed Diriye, former family affairs minister, told Reuters in Baidoa, where parliament sits.

The 10 ministers who quit were all allies of President Abdullahi Yusuf, who has appeared increasingly at odds with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein. This week, Yusuf revoked an order by Hussein sacking Mogadishu's powerful mayor.

Diriye said 10 of the cabinet's 15 ministers, four of them from overseas, had tendered their resignations.

In Mogadishu, Hussein said the resignations would have no impact on the work of the interim government, which has struggled to impose its authority on the chaotic Horn of Africa nation since coming to power at the start of last year.

"The resignations will not affect the government but it might have an effect on the recent peace agreement reached between the opposition and the government in Djibouti," he told a news conference.

One Member of Parliament who asked not to be named told Reuters one group of lawmakers were calling on Hussein to resign over alleged financial irregularities in his administration.

Hussein said he would not quit. "I have told them if my position is an obstacle towards achieving peace in Somalia then I will honorably tender my resignation, but I will not resign because of these issues," he said.

At the center of the growing tension between Hussein and Yusuf is a former warlord and close Yusuf ally, Mohamed Dheere.

Hussein sacked Dheere as mayor and governor of the capital this week, accusing him of misusing public funds and blaming him for mounting insecurity.

Yusuf revoked the order on Thursday, officials said.

The fresh crisis in war-torn Somalia comes amid efforts by international and Somali brokers to press on with a peace process aimed at ending the civil fighting that has killed thousands of people in recent months.

Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of Somalia's embattled and internationally-backed transitional government in late 2006, ousting an Islamist militia that had briefly controlled large parts of the country.