Somalia's leader leaves hospital

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Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has been discharged from hospital in Kenya after three days' treatment for respiratory problems.

A frail-looking Mr Yusuf, 72, who had a liver transplant 13 years ago, said he would now be travelling to London for a routine check-up.

"I had bronchitis and am feeling better, my doctors say I can go to London," Mr Yusuf said.

His Ethiopia-backed government is battling insurgents in Mogadishu.

Anxiety had gripped Somalis and foreign diplomats after Mr Yusuf was urgently flown to Nairobi on Tuesday from the government seat in Baidoa.

Some health officials had described his condition as serious.

'Liars'

The BBC's Anne Mawathe in Nairobi says the interim president was earlier being pushed in a wheelchair around the hospital.

Some journalists told the whole world that I am already dead President Yusuf Dr Mauro Sio, who has been attending to Mr Yusuf for more than a decade, said all X-rays show that he has responded well to the antibiotics that were treating his condition.

"He is in perfect condition, and I do not think there is any cause of alarm," Dr Sio said.

President Yusuf took issue with reports that he had died and cautioned journalists against misreporting.

"Some journalists told the whole world that I am already dead, I saw this on the television but you see me now. I think this is enough proof they are liars," Mr Yusuf told reporters in Nairobi.

The UN says 60% of Mogadishu residents have fled their homes because of this year's fighting, meaning one million Somalis are now homeless.

Ethiopia helped the transitional government end the Union of Islamic Courts' (UIC) six-month rule over large parts of southern Somalia, last December.

But Islamist insurgents continue to stage attacks in the capital.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.