Somali President Yusuf Will Not Resign Position, Spokesman Says

Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed won’t resign this weekend, his spokesman said, dismissing a New York Times report he is set to quit.
“I am strongly condemning propaganda reports” claiming the president will step down, presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamoud Mohamed Hubsired said in a telephone interview from Mogadishu today. “The president will not resign and there is no case for him to resign. The president will continue his duties until his mandate” expires. The newspaper reported yesterday that Yusuf, who became president four years ago, was set to resign, a move that might spark a clan-based battle to succeed him. To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at
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BAIDOA, Somalia Dec 26 - Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf is expected to address the country's federal parliament regarding media reports that he might resign from office, .
On Friday, parliament Speaker Sheikh Adan "Madobe" Mohamed visited President Yusuf at his residence in Baidoa, the seat of parliament. President YusufNo official reports emerged following the closed-door meeting between the two Somali leaders, but a lawmaker confidentially told that President Yusuf requested the Speaker to gather MPs in Baidoa."The President has reached a decision and he wants to share his final decision with a united parliament, but lawmakers have been divided in recent weeks," the MP said.Speaker Madobe began holding discussions with groups of lawmakers in Baidoa following his meeting with President Yusuf, the sources added.Conflicting reports have emerged regarding Yusuf's final decision, with local and international press largely reporting that the Somali leader has decided to resign.MP Abdirashid Irro, a close ally of President Yusuf, told the VOA Somali Service that Yusuf has decided to resign and will address the Parliament soon. Somalia's ailing president, now in his 70s, is a former warlord who has held together a multi-clan parliament and government since coming to power in 2004.