Nairobi  - Pres

Nairobi - Somali members of parliament (MPs) were Friday set to appoint a new president to take control of a nation under siege from Islamist insurgents.

Over a dozen candidates have emerged, but current Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the head of the moderate branch of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), are strong favourites.

Nairobi  - Some 40 people are missing and one person is dead two days after a blaze ripped through a supermarket in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The fire broke out on Wednesday and quickly engulfed the downtown branch of Nakumatt, a popular supermarket chain.

Nakumatt on Wednesday evening issue a statement saying all of its staff and customers were safe, but the claim now seems to have been premature.

Nairobi/Khartoum - The chief conflict mediator for a joint United Nations-African Union mission in Sudan's restive Darfur province warned Thursday that a recent upsurge in fighting is undermining the chances of peace.

The UN says more than 9,000 people have fled their homes in south Darfur in recent weeks as Sudanese government aircraft bombed rebel positions and ground battles raged between the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and government forces.

Nairobi/Mogadishu - A moderate Somali Islamist group on Thursday seized control of a second town from main insurgent group al-Shabaab as the groups battle to fill gaps left by the departure of Ethiopian troops.

The fighting came as internationally backed plans to form a unity government and elect a new president gathered pace.

The government-aligned Ahlu Sunnah Waljamaca attacked the central town of Dhusamareb in the morning, Somali news portal Mareeg. com reported.

Nairobi/Mogadishu - Somali insurgents have installed strict Islamic law in Baidoa, the seat of the Somali government, after taking control of the town.

Main insurgent group al-Shabaab took over the town on Monday only hours after the pullout of Ethiopian troops who had been propping up the central government for two years.

Baidoa was one of the last remaining strongholds of the government, which now only controls parts of the capital, Mogadishu.