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Two-thirds of Somalia's cabinet ministers are said to have resigned, widening a rift between the president and prime minister of the UN-backed interim government.
The 10 ministers who quit were allies of the Abdullahi Yusuf, the president, who has appeared increasingly at odds with Hassan Hussein Nur, the prime minister.
The resignations came after Yusuf revoked an order by Hussein which would have sacked Mohamed Omar Habeb, Mogadishu's powerful mayor, on corruption charges.
Habeb, a former regional commander who ruled the Middle Shabelle region before being ousted by the Islamic Courts' Union in 2006, was appointed mayor of the Somali capital last year.
The ministers said in a statement: "We have decided to leave our posts after we have seen the mismanagement of the prime minister. He sacked the mayor of Mogadishu without consulting the council of ministers."
Among those who signed the statement are the foreign and defense ministers.
Interim arrangement
The ministers said that they would continue to serve in office until Nur could replace them.
"No initiatives were launched in parliament for the last seven months and there was a total misuse of the nation's resources, while the government also failed to ensure security," they said in their statement.
Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent, speaking from the Kenyan capital Nairobi, said the resignations were a huge blow to the government of Yusuf, because it showed that there were so many political problems in Somalia, on top of the raging insecurity, the humanitarian problems and the hunger crisis.
"The prime minister is the leader of the executive arm of the government and the president is the head of state, but there has always been a problem with the Somali constitution, and who has the most power," he said.
The fresh crisis in war-torn Somalia comes amid efforts by international and Somali brokers to press on with a peace process aimed at ending the civil fighting that has killed thousands in recent months.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Somali soldier stands near empty houses in Mogadishu in 2007.
Al-Jazeera
