A group of East African countries has moved to place restrictions on the Somali warlords who lost control of the capital last week.

The restrictions are intended to punish the warlords for bringing misery onto the Somali population, and to force them into talks with the militia members of the Islamic Courts Union, which took control of Mogadishu on June 7.

The East African countries, operating as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), said Tuesday they will follow Kenya's lead by freezing the warlords' accounts and stopping them from travelling in their countries. 

"We will not allow them to use our banks, we will not allow them to use our airports, we will not allow them to bring their kids to school here," Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said. "We will not allow them to enjoy the facilities in our five-star hotels when they create hell in their own country."

Some warlords have assets in the IGAD member states, which include Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. But they were defiant when Reuters contacted several of their number.

"We stay inside Somalia, we have no more interest going to IGAD countries," Abdi Hassan Awale told the news agency.

Courts Union brings justice

The warlords have controlled Mogadishu for 15 years, but were displaced by the Islamic Courts Union, a group originally set up to try to bring justice to the lawless capital. The union is reportedly popular with city residents because it has imposed some order.

The U.S. has linked the union with al-Qaeda, and the warlords were working as a coalition called Warlords of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, backed by Washington.

But on Tuesday, a U.S. State Department official said the union recently sent a letter to Washington assuring the U.S. that the courts do not have any hostile intentions. 

"We have an imperfect understanding of them," counter-terrorism co-ordinator Henry Crumpton said.

Washington expects the courts to work with Somalia's transitional government and hand over any al-Qaeda fighters in Mogadishu, he said.

Somalia is unofficially split into three parts: the south is controlled by the court militia, the northeast is run by an autonomous government allied to transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf, and central Somalia is controlled by several groups. The warlords are based around Jowhar, about 90 km north of Mogadishu.