Somali ministers quit as government rift deepens

Baidoa: Two thirds of Somalia's cabinet ministers resigned on Saturday, officials said, widening a rift between the president and prime minister.

The 10 ministers who quit were all allies of President Abdullahi Yusuf, who has appeared at odds with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussain.

This week, Yusuf revoked an order by Hussain sacking Mogadishu's powerful mayor.

"I have resigned because the government has failed to implement its programmes and has gone against the charter," said Khadija Mohammed Diriye, former family affairs minister.

She said 10 of her colleagues tendered their resignations, four of them from overseas. Somalia had 15 ministers.

It was not immediately clear what effect the move would have on the work of the interim government.