Against a background of gunfire, a number of Somali clan warlords agreed on Friday to disarm and enrol their forces in the national army, creating a ray of hope in a violence-torn land.

As the warlords met in Mogadishu with President Abdullahi Yusuf, head of the transitional government, fighting began outside the building. A rocket-propelled grenade was fired and as many as seven people were killed.

Somali men lie on the ground after a rocket-propelled grenade was fired in fighting outside the presidential residence in Mogadishu on Friday.
(Associated Press)

The dispute — according to wildly varying accounts — was between rival clan militias or between clan fighters and government troops, and was sparked by an argument about who should be admitted into the meeting or possibly about where to park an armoured car.

In any event, it cast a pall over an otherwise hopeful development.

"So, yes, a sort of peace deal was signed, insofar as the warlords did agree to start to disarm," BBC East Africa correspondent Adam Mynott said in a report to the CBC.

"But the irony, I think, of the shooting going on outside cannot be lost on anyone."

Somalia, one of the world's poorest countries, remains a volatile place, he said.

"It's a country that's had no proper government for the past 16 years, but the events of the past two or three weeks, the fighting between the Islamists and the transitional government backed by Ethiopia, has thrown the country even deeper into turmoil.

"Now clearly there are attempts going on to somehow fashion order out of the disorder, but I think it's going to be a very uphill struggle."

Collaborate for peace

The deal with the warlords, whose change of allegiance earlier helped to end hardline Islamist rule in much of Somalia, was hailed as a breakthrough by the transitional government.

"The warlords and the government have agreed to collaborate for the restoration of peace in Somalia," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told the Associated Press.

Dinari said the president had met with three top Somali warlords and two other faction leaders.

"The agreement means they have to disarm their militia and their men have to join the national army," he said.

There are believed to be about 20,000 militiamen in Somalia and the country is awash with guns, AP said.

Fighting among clans and warlords doomed 13 other attempts at government in Somalia since the country collapsed into chaos in 1991.

With files from the Associated Press