SOMALIA: TNG hangs in the balance as mandate ends
NAIROBI, 12 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Uncertainty hung over Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) on Tuesday after prime minister Hassan Abshir Farah announced that the TNG's mandate would finish on Wednesday at the end of its three-year term.

But TNG President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who sacked Hassan Abshir along with parliament speaker Abdallah Derow Isaak at the weekend, has said the interim government will continue until new institutions are formed through free and fair elections. Last month, Abdiqassim walked out of peace talks underway in Kenya saying they were leading towards the "dismemberment" of Somalia. MORE