Mogadishu - Somalia's parliament on Monday backed Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, scuppering President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's plans to fire him.

Yusuf on Sunday fired Hussein, saying he was "unable to perform his duties" and that he was obliged to act to save the country.

However, the parliament in the town of Baidoa must approve the decision - yet it voted overwhelmingly that Hussein and his government were "legitimate."

Yusuf has been at loggerheads with his prime minister since the summer, when Hussein fired the Mogadishu Mayor, a close ally of Yusuf.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos ever since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The crisis has deepened since Ethiopian forces helped kick out a hardline Islamist regime in the last half of 2006, sparking a bloody insurgency that has killed around
10,000 civilians.

Islamist insurgents have taken advantage of the political infighting to advance to the edge of Mogadishu.

The African Union on Sunday blasted the infighting and called on the two leaders to put their differences behind them and focusing on bringing peace to the Horn of Africa nation.

"This announcement... has the potential of undermining the sustained efforts being made by the AU, IGAD and the larger international community, including the United Nations, to further reconciliation, peace, and stability in Somalia," Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission, said.

IGAD is an organization of six East African nations focused on development issues.

Hussein, who came to power last November, has accused Yusuf of trying to derail the UN-sponsored peace process between the Transitional Federal Government and opposition group the Alliance of the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS).

The step-up in the political problems comes as Ethiopia prepares to pull its troops out of Somalia, perhaps to be closely followed by the African Union peacekeeping force.

Main insurgent group al-Shabaab has refused to take part in the peace process and there are fears that it will overrun Somalia completely should the Ethiopians and AU leave.

Yusuf has admitted that the government now only controls parts of Mogadishu and Baidoa. (dpa)