The chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberating of Somalia, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has arrived in Mogadishu on Wednesday officials said.
"We are happy that we are in the capital and we thank those who welcomed us," Sheik Sharif told Shabelle Media Network.
Sheik Sharif from Djibouti has returned to Mogadishu since the Islamic Courts Union was driven from the capital Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backing the transitional federal government of Somalia.
He was accompanied by members of his alliance which signed a peace deal with the transitional government and some government ministers.
The security of Aden Adde international airport in Mogadishu was tightened ahead of the arrival of the chairman, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
Government soldiers and Islmic Courts Union forces wearing red turbans participated his security and he was welcomed by a lot of people who were at the pavements of the long road from the airport to Lafwein Hotel.
AMISOM peace keepers in Mogadishu escorted his convoy to Lafwein Hotel in north Mogadishu, where he met some traditional leaders.
Sheik Sharif and other top officials of the Islamic Courts Unioin left Mogadishu in late 2006 when allied Ethiopian troops and government soldiers routed the militants of Islamic Courts Union.
by Ahmednor Mohamed Farah