Ethiopian forces that helped Somalia's interim government rout rival Islamists in a war over the New Year will begin leaving the capital Mogadishu today, an Ethiopian army general said.
General Suem Hagoss made the announcement at a ceremony in Somalia's coastal capital where former warlords and faction leaders were handing over weapons to the newly installed transitional government.
After the function, Somalian Interior Minister Hussein Mohamed Farah Aideed said the Ethiopian forces guarding the government would be replaced "within a week" by African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria.
He said South Africa, Libya, Tanzania, Angola and Congo had also agreed to send soldiers but did not say when.
Ethiopia says it wants to pull out its troops after helping government forces oust the Islamists in a two-week war.
The AU has approved a nearly 8,000-strong force, but experts doubt its capacity to muster it quickly, let alone control a nation mired in anarchy since the 1991 overthrow of a dictator.