// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Somalia's top court rejects president's term extension amid political crisis
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's four-year mandate expired in May
Somalia's Supreme Court has ruled that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud unlawfully extended his term, escalating a political crisis and a standoff between the presidency and judiciary.
Thursday's ruling came a day after Mohamud dismissed Chief Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed - a move which the court said the president lacked the authority to take.
The court also ordered political leaders to agree on an electoral plan within 30 days and hold elections within 90 days, potentially disrupting government plans for nationwide polls next year.
Mohamud's four-year mandate expired in May, but his administration extended it by a year through law changes approved by parliament in March.
Opposition groups accuse him of using the constitutional changes to prolong his rule.
But the president insists the reforms are necessary to move Somalia towards fully democratic elections, replacing the clan-based system in which elders pick their representatives.
Somalia last held nationwide direct elections in 1969 and has been wracked by civil war for more than 30 years, with Islamist militant group al-Shabaab controlling many rural areas.
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On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional changes could not be applied retrospectively to the president's current term.