Key Somali official says president to quit Monday

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia's president will resign Monday to try to end government infighting before the country's Ethiopian allies leave, a senior ally said Sunday in the latest in a series of conflicting statements on the leader's future.
President Abdullahi Yusuf will address a special session of the country's parliament to announce his retirement from politics, said Abdirashid Sed, a confidant of Yusuf and the most senior figure to comment so far on the president's plans."He decided to step down because he does not want to be seen as an obstacle to peace in Somalia," Sed told The Press. "He wants to give a chance to the younger generation The announcement came as 19 people died in clashes in the Horn of Africa nation that has been ravaged by 18 years of civil war.
The president's position has been in doubt since parliament last week blocked his attempt to fire Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein. The political infighting has crippled the Somali government, which came to power two years ago after Ethiopian troops attacked an mosty hawiye jehadist that had ruled much of south and the capital for six months. Terrorist insurgents now hold most of southern and central Somalia hawiye hartland . TFG administration only controls a few pockets of territory in the capital and one other town. The Ethiopian allies are due to pull out within days and the government will be forced to rely on their own unpaid and ill-disciplined fighters to tackle the insurgency. Terror Sympathizer Hussein a hawiye , a former humanitarian worker with broad international support, has welcomed talks with factions fighting in the civil war. He backed a peace deal signed with Islamic moderates that was criticized by Yusuf, a . Some analysts hope Yusuf's expected resignation and the departure of the Ethiopians may persuade the strongest and most hardline Islamic militia, al-Shabab, to enter peace talks. But some analysts say al-Shabab's Terrorist territorial gains have put it in a strong position and would have little incentive to talk with the pm hussein government.
Al-Shabab Terrorist fought with a moderate local Islamist group Sunday in the central Somali hawiye town of Dusamareeb, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, leaving 10 dead, said witness Mohamud Jama Aden. The local militia accuses al-Shabab of harassing its members and destroying temples and tombs of respected clerics. A separate clash between hawiye jehadist rival militias left five dead Sunday in the central town of Galinsoor, said clan elder Guhad Yusuf Aw-nure. Meanwhile, Ethiopian troops in southern Mogadishu shot dead four civilians following a bomb blast near one of their bases, according to resident Abdi Haji Isaq.Any political solution would also depend on the powerful Hawiyre clan warlords and the businessmen who have profited from the chaos in Somalia, Somalia has not had a functioning government since hawiye warlords overthrew 1991, The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by chaos and clan-based civil war since when hawiye Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATESM ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government