The prime minister promised thousands of cheering Somalis peace and stability after he drove through battle-scarred Mogadishu in an armed convoy, a day after an Islamic movement’s fighters abandoned the capital ahead of his Ethiopian-backed troops.

Fighting broke out today between Somalia’s government troops and rival Islamic militia near where an EU envoy was meeting with senior leaders to press for peace talks.

Thousands of Islamic militants today surrounded the only town Somalia’s government controls, the prime minister said.

Government forces backed by Ethiopian troops have clashed for a second day with Islamic militiamen near a village in southern Somalia, officials said.

The European Union yesterday committed €70m in aid to Somalia to help rebuild the drought-stricken and civil war-plagued nation.

Somalia’s prime minister today called on neighbouring countries to send warships to patrol his nation’s waters after a third cargo vessel delivering food aid was seized by pirates.

A BLAST yesterday killed at least seven people and injured an unknown number at a government rally in Mogadishu’s soccer stadium, exploding 10 yards from the new Somali prime minister who had just begun a speech.

Somalia's prime minister escaped unharmed in a blast that killed 10 and injured 60 as supporters turned out for a rally in Mogadishu's soccer stadium today.

A bomb exploded in Mogadishu’s soccer stadium today just as the new prime minister began to address a rally intended to build support for his exiled government, leaving at least one person dead.