MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Warlords and civilians installed a council Sunday to govern Somalia’s capital, an action that further fragments the nation but could bring the city under the control of a single group after 14 years of anarchy.

The swearing-in of the 64 new legislators formalized a break with Somalia’s transitional government, which was formed last year under President Abdullahi Yusuf after lengthy peace talks in Kenya.

Somalia has been without a central government since warlords in 1991 ousted a dictatorship. They then turned on each other, carving the nation of 8.2 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

The new council contains mainly members of the Hawiye clan that dominates the capital of about 2 million people, which previously was divided under the control of rival warlords. There was no immediate comment from Yusuf, whose transitional government is based in Jowhar, north of Mogadishu.

The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, warned last month that Somalia could become a terrorist haven because it is a failed state where extremist Islamic groups are growing.

A 1992 attempt by the U.N. to intervene in Somalia yielded some success, but deteriorated in October 1993 when U.S. troops tried to capture one of the most powerful warlords, Farah Aidid.

That battle, featured in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down,” left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.

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