Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has decided to resign, his spokesman said yesterday, in a move the African Union said would be positive for the peace process in the Horn of Africa nation.

Yusuf has been accused by donor countries and regional governments of being an obstacle to UN-hosted peace talks.

His rift with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein has pushed the Western-backed interim government, struggling against Islamist insurgents, to the brink of collapse.