Somali President, PM Reach ‘Preliminary Agreement’

Somalia’s feuding President and Prime Minister have reached a “preliminary agreement” to dissipate their feud, showing progress in Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s effort to reconcile them. Interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein have reached a tentative agreement that essentially favours the Prime Minister’s position in the standoff, upholding Hussein’s sacking of Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Dheere, who President Yusuf had reinstated, and stating that the 10 pro-Yusuf ministers who resigned in protest will not be allowed to return to the cabinet. [PE]