Baku-APA. Somali legislators say they are poised to stage a no-confidence vote to unseat the president, rejecting international warnings that the planned impeachment could hamper peace efforts in the war-torn country, APA reports quoting Press TV.
In a motion filed earlier this week, opposition lawmakers accused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud of corruption, saying that the Somali leader must be impeached at the parliament.
“This motion is not aimed at destruction, but rather correction,” said parliament member Abdi Barre Yusuf, a supporter of the motion, on Thursday.
Abdirahman Hosh Jibril, another MP, also said the motion is merely aimed at “bringing about change.”
Jibril further added that the supporters of the motion have accused the president of having “intervened with the independent constitutional institutions of the country like the courts.”
It is not yet clear how many legislators will vote in favor of the motion to oust the troubled president, but opposition lawmakers claim they have the support of the majority of the parliament.
However, at least 90 members are needed for a motion to be put to parliamentary debate. Two-thirds of the 275-member House would also have to support the motion in order to force out the president.
This is while the United Nations, regional countries and the 22,000-strong African Union force (AMISOM), which is battling Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group, have voiced opposition to the motion.
In a joint statement, they expressed “deep concern that the parliamentary motion... will impede progress on Somalia's peace and state building goals.”
Somalia’s current president and parliament were appointed by clan elders in 2012.
Moreover, al-Shabab remains in control of large parts of the rural south of the country and stages attacks at will in the capital Mogadishu.
Somali government and AMISOM forces launched a fresh offensive last month aimed at flushing al-Shabab out of rural areas in southern Somalia.
However, the Takfiri militant group continues to launch attacks in the heart of government zones in Mogadishu.
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