Somalia’s President Suspends Country’s Prime Minister Over Corruption Allegations

Somalia’s president has suspended the country’s prime minister over allegations of corruption. Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who was ordered suspended on Monday, refused to step down, and called the order suspending him, as well as the deploying of troops to the capital to prevent him from entering his office, “a blatant attempt to overthrow the government, the Constitution and the laws of the land.” President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmaajo, has accused Roble of “posing a serious threat to the electoral process.” Parliamentary elections using the county’s complex indirect electoral process began in Somalia on November 1 and were scheduled to end by December 24. But as of Saturday, only some 9% of 275 representatives to the country’s lower house had been elected, Reuters reported. A marine forces commander, who also is under investigation for corruption for a plan allegedly involving Roble to grab public land belonging to the Coast Guard near Mogadishu’s port, also was suspended. In April, the president extended his term by two years, a move called antidemocratic by critics. Troops loyal to both Mohamed and Roble each seized areas of the capital, Mogadishu in the wake of the extension. The president later put Roble in charge of organizing a presidential election. Somalia had intended to hold its first direct elections in 30 years this year. Somalia is also confronting increasing threats from the Al-Qaida-linked Islamist Shabab terrorist group.