An eight-member joint technical committee has been set up by elders of Somalia's Hawiye clan and Ethiopian military officials to discuss ways of withdrawing soldiers and fighters from their positions in the Somali capital Mogadishu, elders said Friday.

"The joint committee will work out ways of implementing the final ceasefire agreement signed between us and the Ethiopians," Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan, a prominent Hawiye politician, told Xinhua after a meeting between two sides. "And the most important is the withdrawal of the combatants from their defensive positions. "

Hassan stated that skirmishes are understandable as the two sides are facing each other in their positions and incidents won't stop as long as the Ethiopians are stationed in their positions.

The news came as mortars were fired at the former defense ministry building where Ethiopian soldiers are based in southern Mogadishu. Fire balls from a burning place near the ministry lit the skies of the capital city minutes after the end of the meeting between Hawiye elders and Ethiopian military officials.

Clashes between pro-government forces and fighters loyal to Hawiye elders for the past two days claimed the lives of nearly 19 people and wounded 30 others, according to Dr. Hassan Gutale of Banadir Hospital .

A ceasefire agreement was signed April 1 after four days of fiercest fighting the city witnessed in the past 15 years, which left hundreds dead or wounded and tens of thousands of civilians were forced to flee their homes in the seaside city of 2 million.

European Union officials earlier last week called for an investigation of possible war crimes committed against civilians in Mogadishu.

An upsurge of violence has hit the capital which the Somali government blames on remnants of the deposed Islamists who ruled the capital and much of southern and central Somalia before they were ousted by the Somali government troops supported by Ethiopian tanks and helicopters.

The transitional federal government of Somalia was formed in 2004 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi after more than a dozen earlier attempts to set up national administration failed.

Somalia has been without an effective national government since the late former ruler Mohamed Siyad Barre was overthrown and the country plunged into chaos and warlord rule.

Source: Xinhua