- Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble
The feud between Somalia's top leadership escalated Thursday after the president announced he was suspending the executive powers of his prime minister, prompting a furious response by the premier as the troubled country plunges deeper into political crisis.
The move by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is popularly known as Farmajo, came despite efforts by Somali politicians to defuse the escalating tensions with Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
He accused Roble - the man he appointed just a year ago - of violating the constitution and taking "reckless decisions which can pave the way for political and security instability".
Roble in turn lashed out at Farmajo in a statement released late Thursday, dismissing his move to suspend the premier's powers as "unlawful" and accusing him of seeking to sabotage the government's functioning.
The two men have locked horns over top security appointments and dismissals in a dispute that has stoked fears for Somalia's stability as it struggles to hold long-delayed elections and keep an Islamist insurgency at bay.
Farmajo said he was withdrawing Roble's executive powers, particularly the ability to hire and fire officials, until the election process was completed.
He said his prime minister had failed to consult or collaborate with him and made decisions that were "not in line with the laws and constitution of the country".
The power struggle became public last week when Roble sacked Somalia's spy chief over his handling of a probe into the disappearance of a young intelligence agent.
Farmajo overruled the prime minister, appointing the dumped intelligence official as his national security adviser.
Ikran Tahlil, a 25-year-old officer with the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), was abducted near her Mogadishu home in June, and her employers concluded that she had been killed by Al-Shabaab jihadists.
The militants issued a denial, while Tahlil's family accused NISA of murdering her.
Playing with fire
Roble on Thursday instructed Somali "security forces not to intermingle with the politics", as the row raises the specter of fresh violence erupting in Mogadishu and threatens to throw an already fragile electoral process into deeper peril.
Security forces "have to preserve the rule of law of the democratic agencies and maintain their responsibilities towards the protection of the Somali citizens and the national stability", he said.
Farmajo's four-year mandate expired in February, but was extended by parliament in April, triggering deadly gun battles in Mogadishu, with some rivals viewing it as a flagrant power grab.
Roble cobbled together a new timetable for a vote, but the process has fallen behind, and on Thursday he accused Farmajo of trying "to foil the elections, violating the agreement, (and) undermining the powers of the prime minister."
The UN Assistance Mission in Somalia has urged the pair to stop bickering and on Sunday, Roble sought to reassure UN diplomats about the status of the vote, saying the country was "committed to holding the elections as planned".
Elections in Somalia follow a complex indirect model, whereby state legislatures and clan delegates pick lawmakers for the national parliament, who in turn choose the president.
The next phase is scheduled for October 1-November 25 with elections for the lower house of parliament, but voting has yet to take place in some states for the upper house as previously scheduled.