Somalian leaders began gathering in war-torn Mogadishu yesterday for a three-day national reconciliation conference under the auspices of the UN.

African Union peacekeepers were deployed around the parliament building, venue of the talks, which was vacated only recently by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents trying to overthrow the fragile UN-backed transitional federal government.

The focus will be on winding up the seven-year-old transitional administration, which has failed to deliver on its top objectives of reconciling the country, writing a new constitution and holding elections.

Yesterday's talks were also meant to include representatives of the breakaway Puntland region and of other semi-autonomous territories.

"Most of the delegates have reached Mogadishu, including those from the regional administrations like Puntland, Galmudug and Ahlusuna-Waljameca, but there are some technical delays," lawmaker Mohamed Abdi said yesterday.

Neither Somaliland, which broke away in 1991, nor the al-Shabaab insurgents, who retreated from Mogadishu last month but remain in control of most of the south and centre of the country, are represented at the talks.

Somalia has been in a state of almost constant civil war since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre 20 years ago, despite several internationally backed attempts to install a central government. The transitional federal government has had two presidents and five prime ministers since its inauguration in 2004.

The conflict in Somalia has worsened the humanitarian consequences of drought across the Horn of Africa, which the UN says is the worst in decades.

It has declared a famine in several regions of the country and says half of Somalia's 10million people need food aid.

• At least 27 people have been killed in fighting that started on Thursday near the border of the two semi-autonomous regions of Somalia.

Puntland's security ministry said that its forces had repelled a two-day attack by al-Shabaab militants in the north of Galkayo town, which Puntland troops control, and accused the authorities of the Galmudug region of harbouring the militants.

"The fighting erupted after al-Shabaab terrorists opened fire on Puntland security forces intending to arrest members of a terrorist cell who organise assassinations and bombings," the ministry said.

Eye witnesses said the fighting had subsided early on Saturday morning but that bodies still lay strewn throughout the town and tensions remained high.