While Somalia's prime minister toured the south of his newly acquired capital to the sound of cheers, thousands of protesters took to the streets of the north in anger at Ethiopia's role in driving out the Islamic courts.

They shouted anti-Ethiopian slogans as they burned tyres and threw stones.

Muhamoud Abdi told the AFP news agency: "We do not need and clearly we do not welcome Ethiopian forces here or anywhere in Somalia."

Ethiopian tanks and troops helped the forces of Mr Gedi's feeble interim government advance on Mogadishu in a whirlwind assault.

The militias of the Union of Islamic Courts, which held the capital since June, melted away in the face of the onslaught and their leaders abandoned the city.

Mr Gedi entered the bullet-scarred streets this afternoon after a day of negotiations with clan elders about restoring calm to the city.

He said rebuilding would start by ridding the notoriously violent city of arms.

"This country has been through a lot of anarchy, so to re-establish order we will have to have an iron hand, especially with the private militia," he told reporters.

He travelled amid high security. His convoy of 22 vehicles was accompanied by 100 Ethiopian troops. Their tanks guarded the runway of Mogadishu airport and other key locations.

Mr Gedi's only previous visit to Mogadishu since becoming prime minister had ended with an attempt on his life.

In two years his government commanded little popular support and no territory beyond its base in the provincial town of Baidoa - that is until Ethiopian forces propelled him to Mogadishu.

Matt Bryden, a Somali analyst based in Nairobi, described the city as a "tinderbox".

He said members of the Hawiye clan - the main source of the courts' support - were nervous about how Mr Gedi's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) would treat them.

"Mogadishu is in a wait and see phase," he said. "There is a lot of anxiety and resentment in the town about whether the TFG is out for revenge on the Hawiye and they want to see how the TFG acts in the coming days."

The Union of Islamic Courts held the city for six months after defeating a coalition of warlords backed by the US.

They were credited with restoring law and order to a city ravaged by 15 years of anarchy and clan fighting. After securing Mogadishu they fanned out across the country taking control of most of Southern and Central Somalia.

However their rise prompted the intervention of Ethiopia - with tacit American backing - which viewed the Islamists as a threat to regional stability.

The remnants of the courts are holed up in the port of Kismayo.

Their leader, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed today repeated his claim that the courts had not been defeated but were digging in for a long war.

"We will not run away from our enemies. We will never depart from Somalia. We will stay in our homeland," he said.

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