(Adds PM naming cabinet, EU presidency quotes) By Mohamed Ahmed BAIDOA, Somalia, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Somalia's parliament voted on Monday to reinstate sacked Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and he began naming ministers, deepening a rift with the president that threatened to tear the fragile government apart. President Abdullahi Yusuf said on Sunday he fired Hussein after they disagreed on a new cabinet demanded by donor countries and regional leaders while Islamist insurgents were camped on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu. Islamists control most of southern Somalia and Ethiopian troops supporting the Western-backed interim government are due to leave by the end of the year, raising fears of a power vacuum and more violence in the chaotic country. Sheikh Aden Madobe, the speaker of parliament, said 143 of 170 legislators present in Baidoa had voted to reinstate Hussein and some called for Yusuf to stand down, but the president's spokesman rejected the vote as unconstitutional. Later on Monday, Hussein gathered ministers previously rejected by Yusuf and named new members to vacant cabinet posts. Yusuf, meanwhile, was still expected to announce a new prime minister to succeed Hussein. The African Union and the European Union urged the feuding leaders of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to bury their differences. "The European Union believes that it would be unacceptable for internal disputes to jeopardise the continuation of the peace process," the EU presidency said in a statement. "It urges the TFG's leaders to end these conflicts and to concentrate on the real challenges faced by the Somali people, notably peace, stability and reconciliation." POWER-SHARING TALKS A local rights group says 16,200 civilians have been killed in the insurgency since the start of last year when allied Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists from the capital. About 1 million people have been uprooted, and 3.2 million -- more than a third of the population -- need emergency aid. The chaos has led to an increase in kidnappings and offshore piracy. Hussein's dispute with Yusuf began when he fired Mogadishu's mayor, an ally of the president. The two also differ on the direction of U.N.-hosted talks that aim to get the government to share power with the moderate Islamist opposition. In Mogadishu, hundreds of people protested against the president's decision to sack the prime minister. African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping said on Sunday Hussein's dismissal would undermine efforts to bring peace and further weaken the transitional government. The AU has 3,200 peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda guarding important sites in Mogadishu, but Ethiopia has said the African troops plan to pull out when it withdraws its forces. Burundi's Defence Minister Germain Niyoyankana said on Monday the AU mission would be staying put, however. "We were surprised by the (Ethiopian) statement. Burundi has never said it was going to withdraw its troops from Somalia," he told a news conference, adding that Burundi had another 850 troops to add to its 1,700 soldiers in Somalia. "We will send more troops if we get sufficient equipment." Ethiopia has said its decision to pull out was final and blamed the international community for failing to fund the AU mission to its planned strength of 8,000 troops. (Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Helen Nyambura-Mwaura in Nairobi, Patrick Nduwimana in Bujumbura and Ingrid Melander in Brussels; Writing by David Clarke; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
A Melka Guba villager holds her sick and malnourished child in the village around Negele, southern Oromia, Ethiopia, in this November 18, 2008 handout photo. Successive years of drought have had ...
