Latest political news:Prime minister dismissed by President: Somalia.

Heavy fighting across Somalia has driven more than a million people from their homes. The lawlessness
has also spilled onto the seas off the Horn of Africa, where international vessels are routinely hijacked by
suspected Somali pirates.
Somalia's president said Sunday he has dismissed his prime minister for failing to do his job, a move that
could threaten peace efforts in the the violence-ravaged African nation.
Abdullahi Yusuf said he would nominate a replacement for Nur Hassan Hussein within three days.
Hussein, a former Red Crescent official appointed 13 months ago, has reportedly been at loggerheads with
Yusuf over efforts to reach a reconciliation agreement with an Islamist-led opposition.

He has scheduled a news conference later Sunday to respond to the president's accusations.
Under the constitution of Somalia's U.N.-backed government, Yusuf would need parliamentary approval for
dismissing the prime minister.
Somalia's government, backed by Ethiopian forces, continues to battle Islamic militias with the fighting
concentrated in the capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopian forces have refused to withdraw, as required under a
recent cease-fire deal.
Somalia has had a United Nations-backed transitional government -- now based in the town of Baidoa --
since the Ethiopian troops expelled Islamist forces from Mogadishu in December 2006.