The newly convened Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) will start work next week, Mogadishu faction leader Husayn Aydid told a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, news agencies said. The SRRC was formed in March by most of the southern faction leaders opposed to Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG), following talks hosted by Ethiopia. Aydid, the current chairman of the SRRC, said on Sunday that the council would work from its headquarters in Baidoa, 250 km southwest of Mogadishu, with an operational office in Mogadishu. The SRRC had six months during which to organise a reconciliation conference inside Somalia, Aydid told journalists.

Aydid also accused Egypt and Saudi Arabia of funding arms purchases for the TNG. He criticised Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen for officially recognising the TNG, and appealed to the Arab League to "stay neutral" on Somalia.