Somalia president calls for unity in parliament

[Sir-Qalbi-Adeyg]

BAIDOA, Somalia, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf urged members of parliament on Thursday to work together and end rifts that have threatened to wreck the Horn of Africa nation's interim government.

 

Yusuf and his Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein signed a deal in neighbouring Ethiopia this week, ending a feud that began when Hussein sacked Mogadishu's powerful mayor, a key Yusuf ally.

 

"We have agreed that no one should interfere with the other's work," Yusuf told parliament in the south-central town of Baidoa. "The world is keeping an eye on us and the differences among us are known."

 

The split had threatened to derail the implementation of a peace deal signed this month at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti.

 

The agreement, which has been rejected by hardliners, seeks the replacement of Ethiopian troops supporting the transitional government with a robust U.N. peacekeeping force.

 

More then 8,000 civilians have been killed in violence since the beginning of last year. The conflict has also triggered a humanitarian crisis aid workers say is the worst in Africa.

 

A report this week said the number of Somalis needing aid had leapt 77 percent since January to more than 3.2 million. (Writing by Wangui Kanina, editing by Dina Kyriakidou)

 

Source: Reuters