Somalia's parliament has passed a no-confidence motion against the country's new prime minister and his Cabinet, sacking a government that was sworn in less than two weeks ago in an attempt to end 13 years of anarchy in the Horn of Africa nation. Dalhar Omar, deputy speaker of the 275-member transitional parliament, said Saturday 153 members voted against Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, accusing him of failing to respect power-sharing arrangements reached in complex talks involving warlords and leaders of the country's main clans. Legislators also accused Gedi of violating the constitution by failing to seek a vote of confidence within 30 days after he was appointed to his post by the president, Omar said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the Somali parliament is based because the Somali capital is considered too dangerous. "But it is more than 40 days now and he has not sought a vote of confidence in the government," Omar told The Associated Press. "The parliament has asked the president to nominate a new prime minister, who will appoint a new government." Somalia's president swore in Gedi's Cabinet on Dec. 1. The new government included warlords, clan leaders and technocrats and was expected to establish the first effective central government since 1991. Somali President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed, who himself was elected by the parliament Oct. 14, had approved the 31-member Cabinet. The Somali presidential spokesman, Yusuf Mohamed Ismail, said Yusuf will reject the surprise vote because it was "flawed."
