Somali lawmakers on Sunday held the first parliamentary session in Baidoa, about 250 km southwest of Mogadishu since relocating from relatively safety of Kenya mid last year.

The Sunday session which was boycotted by the Mogadishu-based warlords was attended by 205 lawmakers who included President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi and Speaker Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan.

"The Somali parliamentary session in Baidoa is open now. We are 205 MPs at the meeting hall," declared Adan.

"Today is an historic day. The government formed in Kenya has finally met inside the country after some differences," the speaker told the session which was also attended by foreign dignitaries.

The session ended several months of haggling and intense international pressure on the Somalia leaders to end rifts over the seat of the fledgling government which was deeply divided since its relocating from neighboring Kenya.

Sources who attended the session said the lawmakers are set to issue a joint appeal for humanitarian assistance for about two million people affected by drought which is ravaging the Horn of African nation.

The first parliamentary session inside the Horn of African nation follows a compromise reached between President Yusuf and his Premier, who want the government based in the town of Jowhar due to insecurity in Mogadishu, and Adan-led rivals, including powerful Mogadishu warlords, who insist the administration be in the capital.

Security was tight and all militias were moved outside the town and encamped in former military barracks as lawmakers arrive in convoy of cars and pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine-guns amid tight security.

The historic move by the Speaker is seen as the first major step for the feuding Somali factions to restore unity and end the dark shadows that has paralyzed the numerous attempts to restore government in Somalia since 1991 when it descended into anarchy.

The agreement is the first concrete achievement to come from the so-called "Aden Declaration" signed in the Yemeni port city of Aden on January 5 in which both sides vowed to end the squabbling that had crippled the government, which was created in Kenya in 2004.

The Declaration had called for parliament to meet on Somali soil within 30 days of its signing but Adan said this was impossible for logistical reasons as Baidoa currently lacks the infrastructure to host the 275-member legislature and observers.

The Somali lawmakers have been divided over the question of whether they should be based in the capital, Mogadishu.

President Yusuf says it is too dangerous to work there and has been based in another town, Jowhar, about 90 kilometers from Mogadishu.

The speaker is believed to control the Mogadishu warlords and is seen as a major power if the government is to gain support of the Mogadishu merchants and warlords, who have divided the country into a patch of fiefdoms for revenue administration.

The Horn of Africa nation has been run by warlords since the ousting of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Source: Xinhua