Mogadishu, (insidesomalia.org) - Interim Somali Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein has suggested that the return of peace across Somalia is more important than the complete deployment of United Nations peacekeepers.

Speaking at a Sunday press conference in Nairobi, Prime Minister Nur Adde said he welcomes the recent UN-sponsored peace accord signed between the Somali government and its opposition - the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).

"If it is possible to secure peace and the fighting stops, Ethiopian troops will leave [Somalia] even if UN peacekeepers are not completely deployed," the Prime Minister said, adding a new twist to a peace pact he signed with ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on June 9 in Djibouti.

A clause in that agreement states that the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia is dependent on "the deployment of a sufficient number of UN Forces."

The Prime Minister indicated that the Somali transitional government is busy implementing tenets of the peace deal, which has been rejected by other ARS factions.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an Eritrea-based ARS member who opposes the agreement, has said that he will replace Sheikh Sharif as ARS chairman next month.

Prime Minister Nur Adde called on the Somali people to support the peace process, which he indicated would bring the country back from years of chaos and mass exodus.

Government supporters have hailed the peace deal as an opportunity to end violence that has gripped Somalia, especially the capital Mogadishu, for nearly two decades.

But key opposition figures - including Sheikh Aweys - have renounced the agreement and called on guerrillas to continue the 17-month insurgency until Ethiopian forces withdraw.

Other militant groups, most notably al Shabaab, have vowed to continue the war and claimed responsibility for numerous attacks since the agreement was signed.