By Ali Muse Abdi

A Somali soldier imprisoned by militia. Somalia's powerful Hawiye clan has released government forces captured during bloody clashes last week as the Somali government sought dialogue with the clan in a bid to pacify Mogadishu.(AFP/Jose Cendon)

MOGADISHU, March 26, 2007 (AFP) - Somalia's powerful Hawiye clan on Monday released government forces captured during bloody clashes last week as the Somali government sought dialogue with the clan in a bid to pacify Mogadishu.

The Hawiye on Friday made a shaky ceasefire deal with Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government but the government did not participate because the Hawiye elders do not recognize its legality.

Hawiye officials released 18 government soldiers captured on March 21 in some of the heaviest fighting since the government and its Ethiopian allies drove out Islamist guerrillas from the capital three months ago.

"The troops are now free to go anywhere they want to. They were not mistreated while in custody and their rights were not violated, in accordance with the Somali traditions," said clan elder and spokesman Ahmed Diriye.

Officials said a total of 26 were captured and four others had been admitted to hospital while another four had died.

The Hawiye refused to disclose where the prisoners had been held, but sources said some of them had been locked up in southern Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, the Somali government on Monday sought dialogue with the powerful Hawiye clan to which most insurgents belong.

The government is struggling to pacify the capital ahead of a National Reconciliation Conference, planned to start April 16, despite threats of disruption by Islamists.

Somali Interior Minister Muhamoud Hamed Gulled said that the authorities were now extending an olive branch to the Hawiye.

"We have had some misunderstanding with the Hawiye elders, but we will talk with them to resolve the problems," Gulled said in a message broadcast by local radio stations.

"The young men who have been firing rockets into government positions should come and talk to us about their grievances and we will address them. We are ready for dialogue and the government will use all measures to make Mogadishu peaceful," he added.

The Hawiye elders welcomed the government's change of heart and said they would strive to maintain the fragile truce that has already been strained by belligerent wings of the clan.

"The government statement is welcome if it is sincere about it," said Diriye. "We have always called for dialogue and we have truly said we need peace in Mogadishu."

"We all hope the truce will hold."

At least 24 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in last week's fighting, while suspected insurgents shot down a cargo plane over Mogadishu on Friday, killing 11 people on board.

Meanwhile, press rights group Reporters Without Borders on Monday said that a Somali reporter from Radio Shabelle and his driver had been released on Saturday, after being held by government troops for three days.

Mogadishu remained relatively calm Monday as the fragile truce appeared to hold.

The interior minister called on the thousands of Somalis who have fled the capital in recent weeks to return.

"Since both sides support the ceasefire I am urging the Somali people to return home," Gulled said.

A bloody power struggle that followed the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre exploded into a full-scale civil war that has defied more than 14 attempts to restore a functional government.

Source: AFP