Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has been taken to hospital in the Kenyan capital, the BBC has learnt. He will not attend Wednesday's meeting of regional leaders and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Ethiopia. But his new prime minister Nur Hussein Hassan has told the BBC that Mr Yusuf's health is not critical. Others described his condition as "serious". Mr Yusuf's Ethiopia-backed government is battling Islamist insurgents. The UN says one million people are homeless. He was named president in 2004 after protracted peace talks in Kenya but has not been able to end years of conflict.
Ali Mohamed Sheik, a protocol officer for the Somali embassy in Kenya, told the AP news agency that Mr Yusuf had been able to walk from the plane to his car. "He was walking, he was better than we expected." But a Nairobi hospital official told the AFP news agency that Mr Yusuf's condition was "serious". Nairobi hospital doctor Mauro Saio said the president was suffering from a chest infection. Mr Yusuf, 72, is to be flown to London for treatment later this week.