Somalia talks run into sand

After a month of peace talks in Kenya between Somalia's feuding clans - described by western observers as the failed state's best chance for peace in over a decade - half the £6m funds donated for a six-month process have been spent, and the talks are deadlocked in a dispute over the number of delegates each clan is allowed.

The talks bring together more than 20 warlords - who have divided Somalia into small fiefdoms - for the first time in a 13-year war.

Hopes have been raised that America would support the process because of its fears over Somalia's potential as a terrorist training ground, and so bring order to a country rated by the UN as the worst in the world to be a child in.

However, the warlords have not been able to agree on the makeup of six committees to draw up a constitution.

"People are still hoping the international community will do something," said Hassan Mohamed Nur, whose militia has been controlling part of central Somalia.

"Without that - nothing."