Negotiations between the Somali government and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) will be held in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday, Egypt's MENA news agency reported Saturday.

MENA quoted a source with the Cairo-based Arab League as saying that an Arab League delegation will head for Khartoum on Sunday to take part in the negotiations.

The negotiations would be held under auspices of the Inter- Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the AL through Kenya, which is the current IGAD president, said the source.

It is also the first time for IGAD to sponsor such negotiations in a member state of the organization.

IGAD was created in 1986 by seven drought-stricken East African countries to coordinate development in the Horn of Africa, and its headquarters is at Djibouti.

Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti are all member states of the 22- member Arab League.

Somalia was plunged into lawlessness in 1991 after the ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and the nation of some 10 million population was then divided into a patchwork of fiefdoms governed by unruly warlords.

Source: Xinhua