A Somali official named prime minister by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed last week has quit, saying his appointment was destabilising the government. Mohamed Mahamud Guled said he had chosen to resign "so that I am not seen as a stumbling block to the peace process which is going well now". Mr Guled was appointed in defiance of Somali MPs, who said the dismissal of Nur Hassan Hussein had been illegal. On Sunday, East African leaders imposed sanctions on President Abdullahi. The Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad) said the appointment of Mr Guled had been unconstitutional and gave its backing to Mr Nur. The president said he sacked Mr Nur because his government had been "paralysed by corruption, inefficiency and treason" and had failed to bring peace. However, Somalia's parliament declared the sacking illegal and passed a vote of confidence in Mr Nur by a huge majority the following day. Torn by internal conflict, Somalia has been without an effective central government for more than 15 years. Source: BBC