Somali businessmen hand over weapons in Mogadishu

By Ibrahim Mohamed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali business leaders who took up arms against the interim government in recent battles began surrendering their weapons on Thursday.

Businessmen from the powerful Hawiye clan turned over crates of ammunition, rifles and heavy weapons at a ceremony in Mogadishu, the scene of fighting that has killed roughly 1,400 people since late March.

African Union peacekeepers from Uganda were on hand to take the guns, which were then given to the government.

"We are very much delighted with the action of the business community. We feel that everybody should follow the example," Ugandan Col. Peter Elwelu said at the ceremony attended by journalists, businessmen and government officials.

The Hawiye are Mogadishu's dominant clan. Some of its gunmen joined Islamist fighters and foreign jihadists in an insurgency against the government and its Ethiopian military allies.

That spawned two bouts of the bloodiest fighting Mogadishu has seen in the 16 years of anarchy following the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

"We of the business community want to hand over these weapons to the government. We are happy that law and order is coming back," business leader Mahamud Gabayare said.

Many businessmen had backed an Islamist movement that brought six months of relative stability to the capital until the government and Ethiopia routed them in a December war.