Clan elders handed over eighteen soldiers captured during recent fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu between fighters from the Hawiye clan and Somali transitional government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers to their sub-clans, said Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan, a spokesman for Hawiye clan, on Monday.

"The Somali government says that no soldiers are missing from their rank. That is why we have handed them over to their respective clans," Hassan confirmed to Xinhua.

The transitional government has not commented on the troop handover. The handover ceremony was held in Mogadishu with local and international media presence.

Fierce fighting has been going on between clan insurgents and Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers for three days last week and was stopped with a ceasefire signed between Hawiye clan elders and Ethiopian military officers.

The ceasefire has been holding since it was singed on Thursday.

"We shall respect the ceasefire as long as they do," said Hassan. "But if they try to disarm us, we shall definitely defend ourselves."

The clan elders accused the transitional government led by President Abdullahi Yusuf, from the Darood clan, wants to disarm them alone and not other Somali clans, a charge the government vehemently denies.

The Somali government has pledged to pacify the city in time for the scheduled April 16 national reconciliation congress to be held in Mogadishu.

The Somali Parliament based in Baidoa, a town 250 km south of Mogadishu, has voted unanimously to relocate the cabinet to Mogadishu earlier this month.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former ruler Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

The transitional government was formed in 2004 with UN help, but has little authority across the country because it has no real army or police force.

Source: Xinhua