Peace Talks In Somalia Between Factions

Somalia's moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is welcomed in Mogadishu, December 10, 2008. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu for the first time in two years on Wednesday and a local rights group said fighting had killed 16,210 civilians since then. (Feisal Omar/Reuters)

Sharif Back In Mogadishu As Death Toll
Hits 16,210 -- Yahoo News/Reuters

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia's moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to Mogadishu for the first time in two years Wednesday and a local rights group said fighting had killed 16,210 civilians since then.

Security was tightened in the capital as Sharif, who is in talks with the country's Western-backed interim government, was rushed to a hotel in a northern district of the city surrounded by government troops and Islamist militiamen.

The U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said Sharif's return was "most welcome," while the sight of gunmen who used to shoot at each other now working side by side cheered many of the capital's war-weary residents.

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My Comment: Ethiopia will soon be leaving .... all the factions in Somalia know that and are now positioning themselves through alliances and agreements.