NAIROBI, Kenya — Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, the American-educated prime minister of Somalia, resigned Sunday after weeks of pressure to abide by a deal between two other top officials that extends Somalia’s wobbly transitional government for another year.
Mr. Mohamed, who studied in Buffalo and served as a commissioner for the Municipal Housing Authority there, was appointed just eight months ago as prime minister of one of the world’s most chaotic countries. Western diplomats said he had proved himself as one of the more capable and professional politicians in Somalia, and attributed his departure to back-room politicking.

Earlier this month, Somalia’s president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, and the speaker of Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, agreed to dismiss him as part of their deal to extend the transitional government. Analysts said that the speaker wanted to appoint his own associates to high positions, and that although the president was reluctant to see Mr. Mohamed go, he agreed in order to keep his own job.
But as word spread that Mr. Mohamed was being forced out, riots erupted in Mogadishu, Somalia’s bullet-riddled capital. Hundreds of civilians marched through the streets, saying that Mr. Mohamed was the only honest politician in the government. Soldiers lit huge bonfires in protest and abandoned their posts.
Many said that Mr. Mohamed was the first prime minister to ensure that soldiers actually got paid, as opposed to having commanders steal their salaries. Mr. Mohamed tried to make the argument that the public was fully behind him, even members of other clans, and last week he indicated that he would not quit.
In the end, according to several analysts, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, forced him to step aside.
Uganda plays a bit of a kingmaker role in Somalia, with several thousand Ugandan peacekeepers guarding government officials in Mogadishu.
“Considering the interest of the Somali people and the current situation in Somalia, I have decided to leave my office,” Mr. Mohamed announced Sunday.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when the central government collapsed. Ugandan peacekeepers and government-allied militias have been going on the offensive against Islamist insurgents in the past few weeks. Earlier this month, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Al Qaeda’s top agent in Somalia, was gunned down in what appeared to be a random shootout in Mogadishu.
Western diplomats and others have said that unless the transitional government stops its internal squabbling, any gains against the insurgents will be short-lived.
Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, a deputy prime minister, has been appointed acting prime minister and the president was expected to name a permanent prime minister in the next few weeks