Faction leader released

Col Abdirazzaq Isaq Bihi, the Somali faction leader who was captured in the border town of Bulo Hawa, southwestern Somalia, has been released, local sources across the border in northeastern Kenya told IRIN on Monday.

Col Bihi was captured by forces loyal to the pro-Ethiopian Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) when they overran Bulo Hawa on 15 May. The SRRC is a grouping of southern factions opposed to the Mogadishu-based Transitional National Government (TNG).

Bihi was brought to the Kenyan border town of Mandera on Sunday morning where he was handed over to local elders. "He is here in Mandera with us and participating in reconciliation talks [within the Marehan clan]," one elder told IRIN. He added that the Kenyan authorities in Mandera had participated in facilitating Bihi's release.

Other sources in Mandera told IRIN that Bihi's release was seen by the Marehan - who dominate Somalia's southwestern Gedo Region - as an attempt by the Marehan sub-clans allied with the SRRC to reconcile with their cousins. "This was a very important gesture on their part. He is very important, and killing him would have created an endless clan war," the sources said.

Humanitarian sources in Mandera told IRIN they welcomed the release of Bihi as it might serve to encourage the return of the thousands of Somalis who fled the fighting in Bulo Hawo last month and who are now living in a temporary camp in Mandera.

"We welcome anything that will contribute to the peaceful return of the refugees, and this release is likely to encourage many of them to return", the sources said.