Exiled MPs return home to Somalia

Muse Sudi Yalahow is one of Mogadishu's most powerful warlords

A delegation from Somalia's exiled government has gone to the ruined and divided capital, Mogadishu, to pave the way for its return.

Warlord and Trade Minister Muse Sudi Yalahow led the 30-strong team of MPs, who were greeted by cheering and dancing crowds.

The parliament was elected last year in Kenya after two years of peace talks.

Somalia has been without an effective government since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Since then rival warlords have battled for control of the country and Somalia has been divided into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

Peacekeepers dispute

The task ahead for the new administration is huge.

We do not want peacekeepers because our militia can provide security Muse Sudi Yalahow Warlord and cabinet minister

Most government buildings are either in ruins or being used as refugee camps - and it has no civil service or treasury.

The African Union (AU) has agreed to send peacekeeping soldiers to Mogadishu to help the government establish itself - following Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf's request for between 15,000 and 20,000 troops.

But key warlords oppose this move.

Mr Yalahow - one of Mogadishu's most powerful warlords and a member of President Abdullahi's cabinet - said the AU force would not be necessary.

"We do not want peacekeepers because our militia can provide security if we train them and provide an atmosphere of government," he said.

Last month, Mogadishu's police chief Gen Yusuf Ahmed Sarinle - known to support the deployment of AU peacekeepers - was assassinated.

Crash

According to the BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, the delegation's arrival was not without drama.

Facts and figures about life in Somalia

At-a-glance

Three vehicles in the convoy they were travelling in from Ballidogleh airport, 90km south of Mogadishu, overturned killing three militiamen and injuring 16 others.

But the accident - blamed on speeding along the potholed road - did not dampen the celebratory atmosphere outside the Sahafi Hotel, where some 600 people welcomed the MPs, our correspondent says.

Mr Yalahow said he hoped other members of government would relocate to the capital soon.

And in the coming days the delegation would travel to central Somalia where there is a clan dispute over land, he said.

Over the last three months some 100 people have died in vendetta clashes between rival Hawiye sub-clans.