4/1/06, The two men have met for the first time in six months Rival political leaders from Somalia are reported to have reached an agreement to reunify the country after 15 years of factional division.

The talks, taking place in Yemen, have been led by Somalia's president and the parliamentary speaker, allied to armed militias controlling the capital.

Officials say President Abdullahi Yusuf has agreed in principle to move the central government to Mogadishu. He has refused to go there till now on security grounds.

Correspondents say his return to the capital is likely to depend on an agreement by the militias to withdraw from the city's streets. There are also reports of plans to reconvene the parliament in Somalia.

Details of the agreement are due to be announced on Thursday. The country has been factionalised and basically lawless since 1991. Technically, the president and parliamentary speaker should be colleagues in the same administration elected by parliament in late 2004.

But in practice, they have remained political enemies - the speaker conniving with the militias that still control the capital Mogadishu, and the president holed up with his prime minister in Jowhar, a town 50km away .

Source: BBC
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