Security tight ahead of Somalia peace meeting

MOGADISHU, July 14 (Reuters) Security was stepped up across the Somali capital Mogadishu today ahead of a major peace meeting seen as the interim government's best hope of strengthening its legitimacy in the Horn of Africa nation.

Troops were recalled from the regions and large numbers patrolled, closing streets in some areas before tomorrow's conference of more than 1,000 elders, former warlords and politicians -- which Islamist insurgents have vowed to attack.

''Government troops have arrived in their hundreds,'' said Mogadishu resident Aden Ali, a 40-year-old father-of-four. ''I have never seen so many soldiers as today. The government obviously wants to secure the city for the conference.'' Roadside blasts, suicide bombings and assassinations blamed on Islamist rebels and clan militiamen are an almost daily threat to government troops, their Ethiopian military allies and African Union peacekeepers from Uganda.

In the latest violence, witnesses said two grenades were thrown at Ethiopian troops, killing one soldier. Residents said two suspected rebels were wounded when the troops returned fire.

News on Wednesday that the meeting would finally go ahead brought a mortar attack on the presidential palace and the conference venue itself, an old bullet-scarred police compound.

President Abdullahi Yusuf's interim government has struggled to impose authority on the country since ousting the hardline Islamic Courts movement from the capital in late December.

It hopes that by drawing Somalia's myriad clans to substantial talks it can win broad support -- no easy task in a nation that has foiled 13 previous attempts to set up central rule since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's 1991 overthrow.

Some residents of the impoverished, rubble-strewn city say the administration has got it wrong, and should be talking to the Islamists -- who ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year -- instead.

REUTERS CS MIR KP2008