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Somali prez to resign 'in few days'
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's purported decision comes after his failed attempt to travel to New York. Sources inside the presidential palace, Villa Somalia, claimed that President Abdullahi Yusuf had informed his confidants of his decision to resign in the coming days, a Press TV correspondent reported. Abdullahi Yusuf announced the imminent move in a meeting with his close relatives, citing his failed trip to New York as a contributing factor. The trip was scuttled due to a blockade imposed by Al-Shabaab fighters which banned all flights to or from Mogadishu's International Airport, Aden Adde. The fighters launched mortar attack on the soldiers, belonging to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who had violated the ban. Over 170 civilians were killed after AMISOM's Ugandan and Burundi troops and gunmen from the president's clan, Hawiye, began shelling Mogadishu's civilian neighborhoods while responding to the fighters' attacks. No amount of effort on the part of either his fellow clansmen, the Ethiopian forces in the country or the AMISOM troops could salvage the trip, the president was quoted as saying. He was also said to have contrasted the failure with the trouble-free landing of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein's flight on Thursday. The Somali prime minister was returning to the country from a trip to Djibouti where he had attended talks over programs, appealing all opposition groups to join the peace talks with the government. The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), to which Al-Shabaab serves as the military wing, has denounced Yusuf Ahmed as Somalia's leader. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-27 |
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