Somali leader rejects peace deal

Mr Salat says the delegates were pressured by the mediators

The president of Somalia's transitional government has rejected a deal on a new administration for his country, a day after it was apparently agreed at talks in Kenya.

Abdulkassim Salat Hassan told a news conference, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Sunday that the agreement had been reached undemocratically.

The mediators pressured the delegates to sign the accord. The conference is dividing the Somali people rather than helping them

President Salat Hassan

Delegates at the talks had agreed to establish a federal government to govern anarchy-plagued Somalia for the next four years and also to form a transitional parliament of 351 members, which will appoint the federal president, who in turn will name a new prime minister.

But Mr Hassan said that the proposed Somali parliament was too large and that the Arabic language had been relegated to secondary status.

He accused the mediators of putting pressure on the delegates.

"The mediators pressured the delegates to sign the accord. The conference is dividing the Somali people rather than helping them," he said.

Correspondents say it is not clear how Mr Hassan's threat will affect the deal, which was reportedly signed by his own prime minister, and hailed by international observers as historic.

President Hassan also blamed his Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah, the Transitional National Government's chief negotiator at the talks, for signing without the approval of his government, which came into power after thousands of Somalis met in the Djibouti resort of Arta in 2000.

But Mr Farah told AFP that he had the "support from a vast majority of the (TNG) cabinet and parliamentarians".

Delegates had hailed the new deal as a major breakthrough

A Mogadishu warlord, Musa Sudi Yalahow, said he would disregard the agreement and warned of renewed fighting.

"The whole process will lead to renewed factional fighting in Somalia. The agreement was hastily signed in order to attract support from the African Union (AU)," Mr Yalahow said.

International observers described the agreement as an historic step for Somalia, which has been engulfed in fighting between powerful warlords since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in January 1991.

The TNG only controls a part of the capital, Mogadishu.

'Lasting peace'

More than 300 delegates representing the TNG, Somali armed factions and political groups attended on Saturday, what is known as the second phase of the Somali peace talks.

The talks began last October when more than 20 faction leaders had agreed a ceasefire accord, but were later bogged down by a number of disputes.

The delegates agreed that members of the transitional assembly would be largely selected by the signatories of the ceasefire deal.

"This agreement will bring lasting peace to Somalia," said warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid, chairman of the Somali Restoration and Reconciliation Council (SRRC).

Although no date was given for the creation of the new government, a mediator at the talks told the BBC that it was expected to be in place by the end of the month.

The delegates also said the transitional government would start urgent talks with Somaliland which broke away form Somalia in 1991.

More than a dozen attempts to broker peace in Somalia since then have failed.