We blocked any avenue that can cause a war

Hussein Aidid

Somalia got its first central government for 10 years at the end of 2000 following a peace conference in Djibouti.

This new group argues that that process was flawed as not all Somalis were represented.

The announcement came at a press conference in Addis Ababa where the Somali leaders have been meeting to try and hammer out their differences.

Puntland President Abdullahi Youssouf was present at the meeting

Hussein Aidid, who heads the new Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), told the BBC that the Mogadishu government was a faction rather than a government.

Somali President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan was invited to join the reconciliation conference, but as a leader of one of many factions.

Hussein Aidid denied that he, along with the other faction leaders, were responsible for the continuation of conflict within the country.

'Peace makers'

He said: "We blocked any avenue that can cause a war."

He added that they want to achieve peace and reconciliation through dialogue.

Influential faction leader Osman Atto signed up to the deal

Hussein Aidid said that the "objective is to have a council which can bring... unity among all the [Somali] administrations".

Faction leaders have held talks in the past, but Hussein Aidid claimed that this was the "first time in history" that all the groups had come together for the purpose of reconciliation.

Since its establishment the Mogadishu government has had difficulty asserting its authority outside the Somali capital.

Somaliland and Puntland, two regions in the north of the country, are effectively independent.