Somali PM survives no-confidence vote

Of the 215 lawmakers who voted, 126 approved the motion while 88 opposed it. Under the transitional federal charter, 138 members are required to pass the motion for it to pass.

The parliamentary session was held in a renovated agricultural warehouse in Baidoa town, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu, amid high security.

"The vote has ended peacefully and the government of Ali Mohamed Gedi will stay in position," said parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Ahmed.

"I thank you all and show my gratefulness to those who voted to keep the government," he said.

"I equally thank those who voted against me for exercising their diplomatic right peacefully," Gedi told the lawmakers, two days after his government was plunged into a crisis with the resignation of 18 cabinet ministers.