Somali warlord named 'president'

"President" Nur has broken with Mogadishu

A faction leader in Somalia has established a new autonomous region in the southwest of the country, rejecting the transitional government in the capital, Mogadishu.

Hassan Mohamed Nur, who heads a group called the Rahanwein Resistance Army, has been sworn in as president of the south-western regional government at a ceremony in his stronghold of Baidoa.

The move brings to three the number of former regions in Somalia to declare either full independence or autonomy since the collapse of the central government in 1991.

Correspondents say the announcement is a blow to a regional summit on Somali reconciliation, due in April.

Breakaway

Mr Nur, who is backed by neighbouring Ethiopia, was once a supporter of the Transitional National Government (TNG) set up in 2000.

But he became a strong opponent of the interim administration in October 2001.

The TNG, led by President Abdulkassim Salad Hassan, controls only parts of Mogadishu and pockets elsewhere in Somalia.

Breakaway governments have already been established in Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, and in the Puntland region.