Somalia PM asked to quit as looting of illegally smuggled weapons sparks alarm 

Somalia

MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A group of Somali MPs held a press conference in the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, asking Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre to resign for failure to secure two truckloads of weapons illegally smuggled from Ethiopia which had ended up in the hands of clansmen in the central region of Galgadud. 

The MPs alleged that the weapons had been destined for the militant group Al-Shabaab and had been intended to harm clan militias fighting alongside government forces in the central regions. 

It comes a day after the government distanced itself from smuggling the weapons from Ethiopia amid a diplomatic tiff despite reports that a security detail dispatched by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) had been escorting the truckloads of weapons before being ambushed near the town of Abud Waq. 

The Somali federal MPs also opposed government-introduced tax on money sent through mobile phones, locally known as EVC, stressing that such levies are threat to the country’s economy and exacerbates the financial burden on the already vulnerable population in the capital. 

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