UN holds emergency session on Somalia’s political crisis

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has held emergency consultations on Somalia’s worsening political crisis, which could threaten long-delayed national elections and  further destabilize the east Africa region Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who called for Friday’s closed briefing by U.N. special envoy James Swan, expressed serious concern about “the rising tensions between the prime minister and the president.” The meeting followed President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed’s  statement Thursday saying he suspended Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble’s power to hire and fire officials, the latest action in their divisive relationship. Somalia has only begun to find its footing after three decades of chaos.