( CNN ) -- Somalia 's transitional government has offered a general amnesty to insurgent fighters in Mogadishu who surrender and promise to renounce violence . The decision made by the Cabinet over the weekend was announced Tuesday and comes after Al-Shabaab retreated from the capital , Mogadishu , early Saturday . The al Qaeda-linked group has been waging an insurgency against Somalia 's transitional government since 2006 . In confirming that Al-Shabaab fighters had left the city , spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the fighting was hardly over . `` The reasons we withdrew from Mogadishu is we have made changes in our tactics of war , '' he told the group 's radio station , Andalus . `` We withdrew because we want to save lives of the poor civilians , but we will launch operations against government ( and African Union ) forces in the coming hours . '' Impact Your World : How you can help . Some observers said they believe the Islamists withdrew because of funding woes and drought-related issues . The United Nations has declared famine in five areas of southern Somalia , including Mogadishu . In all , about 12 million people in the Horn of Africa region need assistance . Somalia is the worst hit . `` The immediate priority must now be to focus on the humanitarian situation and I call on all parties , from the donor community to all parts of the Transitional Federal Government , to do everything possible to ensure and facilitate the immediate delivery of assistance to those most in need , '' U.N. special representative Augustine Mahiga said . Al-Shabaab has called the famine a `` crusader '' invention and an excuse for occupation , and issued threats to aid agencies delivering food to afflicted areas . As crops withered , thousands of people fled and livestock starved . But the militants kept their ban on aid groups operating in their territory in southern and central Somalia and parts of the capital .
NEW : Large areas of Mogadishu are suffering from famine . NEW : CNN -linked Al-Shabaab has been waging an insurgency since weekend . Group retreated from the capital of Somalia over 2006 . Insurgents promise to keep on fighting .