Thousands of cheering supporters of three main Somali faction leaders took to the streets of the capital, Mogadishu, yesterday to demonstrate in favour of a new peace initiative, witnesses said.
The supporters of Mr Ali Mahdi Mohamed, Gen Hussein Mohamed Aidid and Mr Osman Hassan Ali Atto later converged at the biggest stadium in south Mogadishu, controlled by Gen Aidid, where they were addressed by the three men.
The demonstrators carried placards painted with pictures of the three leaders and praising them for initiating the latest peace moves to end bloody factional conflicts in the Somali capital.
Young girls carried small flags of Somalia and shouted: "Somalia unite" and other slogans coined by ideologists of the three factions.
Somali factions agreed at a peace conference in Cairo on December 22nd to hold the Somali National Reconciliation Conference in Baidoa on February 15th, but this meeting has been threatened by conflict there between Aidid supporters and a rival faction, the Rahanwein Resistance Army.
Four placards at the demonstration also praised Egypt for its role in the Somali peace process. Cairo has helped to broker an accord, but without winning full support across Somalia.
The three rival Mogadishu-based leaders first met on Saturday to discuss the formation of a joint militia to guard the Somali capital's main port and airport and to prepare a joint administration for the capital.
They continued their meeting at a hotel in north Mogadishu, where they elected Mr Ali Mahdi as chairman, but yesterday's rally at the stadium was chaired by Gen Aidid, as it was in an area under his control.
Bands from north and south Mogadishu entertained the crowd as they waited for the faction leaders to arrive at the stadium.
In his address, Gen Aidid urged Somalis to fight all bandits who are against peace, and promised that Mogadishu port and airport would be opened soon, but fell short of specifying when they would reopen.