More than 50 stalls and shops were destroyed along the streets of Kismayo, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, under a programme by Barre Aden Shire Hirale, the leader of Juba Valley Alliancethat controls Lower Juba region, to beautify the region.

"We don't have any jobs if our shops are destroyed. Where are we going to get jobs and make our livelihoods?" complained one trader.

The region's ruler is also evicting people who were living in a building that housed schools and former government offices to pave the way for the rehabilitation of the premises, which were seized when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.

Officials said Hirale, who is also a minister for rehabilitation in the transitional federal government, is working to improve the general outlook of Kismayo, the capital of his Lower Juba region.

They said most of the stalls and makeshift eateries have been constructed in the streets, where garbage mixes with filthy waters.

The last time United Nations attempted such a cleaning exercise, in the lawless capital Mogadishu, deadly interclan fighting erupted.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since Barre's ouster, but a transitional government appointed in Kenya last year, has failed to exert control across the vast Horn of Africa nation.

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