Mogadishu , Somalia , December 26 2005 (Sapa-AP) – Warlords and civilians installed a council Sunday to govern Somalia 's capital, an action that further fragments the nation but that could bring the city under the control of a single group after 14 years of anarchy.

Sixty-four members of the new Regional Council of Banadir were sworn in to act as legislators, formalizing a break with Somalia 's transitional government.

Somalia has been without government since warlords in 1991 ousted a dictatorship. They then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8,2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

Lengthy peace talks in Kenya led to the formation of a transitional government last year, under President Abdillahi Yusuf, but it quickly split over where it should be based and whether the country needed peacekeepers from neighboring countries to help establish order.

No immediate comment was available from Yusuf, who is based in Jowhar, north of Mogadishu .

Commerce Minister Muse Sudi Yalahow, one of the three main Mogadishu warlords and chairman of the committee that chose the new administration, said members consulted widely, including with former presidents.

The new council contains mainly members of the Hawiye clan that dominates the capital of about 2 million people, which previously was divided under the control of rival warlords. The council also includes minorities such as Mogadishu residents from Somaliland , the northern area that has declared itself a republic separate from the rest of the country.

"We had to talk to everyone willing to help Mogadishu stand on its feet again since our government is a government of reconciliation," Yalahow said, "but we would not surrender to those working for the enemy of Somalia who are against the common good of the people in Mogadishu ." That was seen as a reference to Yusuf.

The UN envoy to Somalia , Francois Lonseny Fall, warned last month that Somalia could become a terrorist haven because it is a failed state where extremist Islamic groups are growing. -

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