NAIROBI, Kenya — The president of Somalia’s beleaguered transitional government, a former warlord widely blamed for his country’s deepening crisis, is expected to resign over the weekend, several officials said Wednesday.
President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed faces a litany of challenges: a powerful Islamist insurgency; a rancorous parliament threatening to impeach him; a united front of Western diplomats who say he has gone from being the solution to being the problem; and neighbors, such as Kenya, that are so fed up with him blocking peace efforts that they are preparing sanctions against Yusuf and his family.
“The parliamentarians were congratulating one another today when they heard the news that the president is resigning,” said Ibrahim Isaaq Yarow, the government’s deputy information minister.
