BAIDOA, Somalia Mar 15 (Garowe Online) - Somali lawmakers in the town of Baidoa convened on Thursday to mainly discuss and condemn dissident members of parliament who have been absent from sessions for months.

Some 170 legislators were distributed laws highlighting legal measures to be taken against MPs absent for long durations without permission or valid reason, sources said.

A list naming 42 dissident MPs was distributed, including former parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan.

After a long debate, lawmakers decided to send a final warning to the dissident MPs, who were given 30 days to return home or lose their jobs.

Ex-Speaker Sharif Hassan has refused to set foot in Somalia as long as Ethiopian troops were present. He and like-minded MPs have setup an opposition camp in Eritrea.

Pro-government Ethiopian troops helped oust an Islamist movement from Mogadishu and south-central Somalia after a two-week war last December.

Eritrea criticized

The deputy Speaker of the Somali parliament, Osman Elmi Boqorre, accused ex-Speaker Sharif Hassan of fomenting trouble within the Somali Parliament by instigating between its members.

Deputy Speaker Boqorre said Sharif Hassan lost his Speaker position on January 17 in a legal and transparent parliamentary vote, and so Sharif had no reason to complain.

In his Wednesday comments, Boqorre also criticized the Eritrean government as “Somalia’s national enemy.”

Eritrea is Ethiopia’s long-time foe in the Horn of Africa region. The two neighbors fought a bloody war that ended in 2000, claiming more than 100,000 lives.

While the Islamic Courts were in power, Eritrea was often accused of offering support to Islamist militia forces who had then threatened to overrun government defenses in Baidoa.

Source: Garowe Online