Somalia's
interim President Abdullahi Yusuf is being
treated in a London hospital after he
collapsed last week.
President Yusuf was treated for
bronchitis last month |
He was
first taken to a hospital in Ethiopia on
Friday before being rushed to London on
Sunday.
A Somali diplomat said Mr Yusuf, 72, was in
London for tests and a check-up. But
opposition parties said he was critically
ill.
The president was last month admitted to a
Kenyan hospital, officially suffering from
bronchitis.
He then underwent tests in London.
"He is back in London to receive part of the
results of the medical tests he underwent
and to undergo any new ones if necessary,"
Yusuf Mohamed Ismail, the Somali ambassador
to the UN European office in Geneva, told
Reuters news agency.
New ministers
In the president's absence, Prime Minister
Nur Hussein Hassan, who took office in
November, has appointed 15 members of a
cabinet to replace those he dismissed last
month.
The ministers were sworn in on Saturday.
Three positions are still to be filled.
Ethiopia helped Somalia's transitional
government end the Union of Islamic Courts'
(UIC) six-month rule over large parts of
southern Somalia a year ago.
Since then the government has been battling
insurgents in the capital, Mogadishu.
The UN says 60% of the residents of the
capital, Mogadishu, have fled their homes
because of fighting in recent months.
Somalia has not had a functioning national
government since 1991.
Hassan Barise of the BBC's Somali Service
says it had been feared the president's
collapse would delay the cabinet
appointments.
He says despite the setback to his health,
no-one is expecting President Yusuf to step
down.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7174701.stm
Published: 2008/01/07 11:12:17 GMT
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