Somali government rolls and tumbles under US pressure

After meeting with the US under-Secretary for African Affairs last week, Somali President Abdullah Yusuf has announced his resignation, as has his highly disputed hand-picked successor to the Prime Minstry, installed after the controversial firing of the legitimately elected Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein. Undersecretary Jendayi Frazer met privately at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya with both Mr. Yusuf and Mr. Hussein, and is reported to have offered the leader of the fragile Transitional government an ultimatum: cooperate with the legitimate Prime Minister or else resign. Mr. Yusuf was given a "list of consequences" if he refused to accept one of the two options, according to sources, which included possible sanctions as well as charges being brought against him in the International Criminal Court. Shortly after Yusuf returned to Somalia, the appointed Prime Minister resigned, and a day later, Yusuf called for a special session of the Parliament, at which he will announce his own resignation, according to sources. The rift between Mr. Yusuf and Mr. Hussein concerns an agreement with the leadership of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), comprised largely of the leadership of the former Islamic Courts Union, which ruled the country before the Ethiopian invasion in 2006. The Djibouti Agreement, negotiated by Mr. Hussein and rebel leaders, calls for doubling the size of the Somali Parliament, with the additional seats going to the ARS. Mr. Yusuf is adamantly opposed to the agreement, but is seen as lacking the political power or will to prevent its implementation. The Agreement gives Ethiopia legal cover to withdraw its troops from Somalia, which it has announced it intends to do by the end of the year. Without their support, the Transitional government is expected to collapse immediately.