The prime minister of the Transitional National Government of Somalia, Hasan Abshir Farah, has been hospitalised in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a senior official from his office told IRIN on Tuesday.

Abshir, who suffers from diabetes, was flown to the UAE on 4 April, and was "taken to the hospital direct from the airport", Ahmad Ise Awad, the chief of staff in the prime minister's office said.

According to Awad, Abshir is undergoing treatment for complications arising from diabetes. "His sugar levels were way above what is considered normal," he said. Doctors at the Al-Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi, to which Abshir was admitted, had brought down his sugar levels to "medically acceptable levels", he said. His condition had now improved to the point at which "doctors were able to perform laser eye surgery on him yesterday [Monday]", Awad told IRIN.

"He is recovering very well, and we expect him to be out of the hospital very soon," he said.

Abshir was appointed to the premiership in November last year, after his predecessor, Ali Khalif Galayr, was voted out of office by the Transitional National Assembly in a vote of no confidence.

In another development the prime minister's younger brother, Husayn Abshir Farah, died in Australia on Monday, Awad told IRIN. "Husayn had been in ill health for the last couple of months and passed away yesterday."