00:00The extension of Hassan Sheikh Mohammed's presidential term was unlawful.
00:05Somalia's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
00:09Mohammed's term ended in May, but his government declared a transition period of one year
00:15to prepare for the country's first nationwide democratic elections.
00:20Mohammed said it was legal under constitutional amendments passed in March,
00:25but the opposition criticised the move as a power grab, and it sparked violent protests in the capital Mogadishu.
00:34Now the Supreme Court has said the amendments didn't apply to his term in office, and says he should have
00:41left in May.
00:43Late on Wednesday, Mohammed dismissed the court's Chief Justice Bashar Yusuf Ahmed, and said he'd appoint a replacement.
00:51As I said earlier, unconfirmed reports say that Ahmed is under arrest.
00:57Somalia is also facing a security crisis from a long-running Islamist insurgency,
01:03but international donors have been cutting funding for military missions, frustrated at the lack of progress.
