Members of the African Union's peace and Security Council are holding urgent talks on the crisis in Somalia. The meeting of foreign ministers, in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, is to focus on finding a way to strengthen the peacekeeping force in Somalia. An Ethiopian force of more than 3,000 troops has been backing the interim government, but is about to withdraw. An earlier meeting of the East African regional group, Igad, decided to impose sanctions on the Somalian president. The transitional government is in disarray, says the BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa, after President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed attempted to sack Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein - a move the prime minister and parliament rejected. Peacekeepers promised Torn by internal conflict, Somalia has been without an effective central government for more than 15years. slamist insurgents are on the upsurge and control most of the country.Paralysed government' The foreign ministers of the six-member Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad) came out in support of Somalian Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein in the political conflict with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. After their meeting, the group said: "[Igad] regrets the attempts by President Abdullahi Yusuf to unconstitutionally appoint a new prime minister that Igad does not recognise, and decides to impose sanctions on him and his associates immediately." Mr Abdullahi had said he sacked the prime minister a week ago because the government had been "paralysed by corruption, inefficiency and treason" and failed to bring peace. However, Somalia's parliament declared the sacking illegal and passed a vote of confidence in Mr Nur by a huge majority.
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