Somalia's PM demotes his deputy

A BBC correspondent says it is part of the prime minister's efforts to exert his authority since the government routed the Islamists from Mogadishu.

Five people have been killed in the capital by gunmen in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Uganda's parliament is expected to approve the deployment of 1,500 troops for a Somali peace force.

'Inefficiency'

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says two people were killed on Wednesday morning by unknown assailants at the south of the city near the main telecommunications centre.

Three other people were killed in separate attacks on Tuesday night.

Leaflets warning residents not to co-operate with the government have been in circulation in Mogadishu, and the attacks could be linked to them, says our correspondent.

As Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi announced his reshuffle, he accused some ministers of misuse of funds and inefficiency.

In Uganda, the parliament is voting to allow the deployment of 1,500 soldiers to Somalia as part of the African Union (AU) peace mission.

The AU has struggled to raise 8,000 troops its wants to send to Somalia to replace Ethiopian soldiers who have started to withdraw.

In December, Ethiopia helped oust the Union of Islamic Courts, who ruled much of Somalia for the previous six months, and install the government in Mogadishu.

So far Nigeria, Ghana and Burundi are the other countries which have offered troops for the AU mission.

Cholera outbreak

Meanwhile, at least 115 people have died in the past four weeks following an outbreak of cholera in south and central Somalia, Medecins Sans Frontieres Spain has confirmed.

Dr Abdulahi Husein Maalin, who works at a hospital in Jowhar, 90km north of Mogadishu, said the outbreak was the result of recent floods which had contaminated water wells.

The floods displaced tens of thousands of people in the region, leaving large tracts of farmland submerged.

"We have started chlorinating the wells in all the districts but, unfortunately, we are having difficulty in accessing some of the remote villages due to lack of transport," Dr Maalin said.

"Two-thirds of those affected are children under the age of 10," he said.

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