Somali president sacks prime minister, cabinet

Somalia's president announced Sunday he was sacking his prime minister and his cabinet saying he had failed to bring security to the chaotic country.

"I have dismissed Prime Minister Hassan Hussein Nur Abdi and will appoint a new one within three days. His government failed to extend the federal system and security to the nation," Yusuf told members of parliament at a meeting attending by media.

Abdi, who has been prime minister for one year, challenged the move, in a fresh clash between the two rivals that further threatened fragile peace efforts.

"The president was speaking in his usual personal capacity, contrary to the rules and regulations, as he is not mandated to sack the prime minister of the transitional federal government," Abdi said.

According to the transitional federal charter, the president alone does not have the power to sack the prime minister, but needs the parliament's approval.

Nur Hassan Hussein was sworn in in November 2007 but has been at loggerheads with Yusuf in recent months, notably over ongoing efforts to strike a reconciliation agreement with the Islamist-led opposition.

Hussein replaced Ali Mohamed Gedi who was forced to resign after months of a bruising power struggle with Yusuf, a veteran warlord who has headed Somalia's transitional administration since its inception in 2004.

A respected Somali rights group said this week that fighting in the Horn of Africa country had killed more than 16,200 civilians since the start of last year, when allied Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists out of power.

Some 1 million people have been uprooted, and 3.2 million -- more than a third of the population -- need emergency aid. The chaos has also helped fuel an explosion of piracy offshore.