General Mohamed Farrah Aidid died of war wounds in Mogadishu last week, and much of the world rejoiced. Aidid was the brutal warlord who called himself the President of Somalia and who, in the process of trying to earn that title, helped reduce his nation to anarchy and famine. Western diplomats accused him of undermining every effort at negotiation and compromise that might have brought peace--in the process dealing U.N. and U.S. military forces a humiliating 1993 military defeat. His death has raised new hope that the civil war that has torn Somalia apart since 1991 might soon end.

Aidid, 62, died as he had lived: on the battlefront. He succumbed to a heart attack Thursday, during or after surgery in Mogadishu to treat bullet wounds suffered in a July 24 firefight. The Voice of the Somali People, a radio station operated by his faction, said he had passed away "while performing his national duties." Thousands of weeping supporters filled the streets of the capital during funeral services on Friday.

Aidid's forces have been engaged in a ferocious battle in recent weeks with supporters of archrival Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who has been fighting for primacy in Somalia since 1991, as well as with militia loyal to Osman Hassan Ali--whose nom de guerre is "Atto"--a kinsman and former ally who turned his guns on Aidid in March 1995. Atto had reportedly captured a large portion of Aidid's south Mogadishu stronghold. More than 100 fighters on both sides died, and 400 were wounded in the battle that ultimately took Aidid's life.

Diplomats and aid workers in East Africa welcomed the news of Aidid's death with varying degrees of cautious optimism and exuberance. "A change was needed, and if anyone had to go, I'm glad it was Aidid," said a senior official for one of the development agencies that has been fighting to keep Somalia's population from starving. "He was creating most of the problems." There was also renewed hope for peace among Somalia's warring factions. "All the clans in Somalia were fed up with Aidid's people," said Saleh Omar, a Somali aid worker. "With him gone, we hope that people will begin to negotiate again." But many are also worried that having lost their common enemy, the leaders of other clans will once again fight among themselves.

Aidid came to the world's attention in January 1991, when he led the military campaign that ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. But Aidid soon had a falling-out with co-conspirator Ali Mahdi over who should become President, and within months Somalia was engulfed in a civil war. By mid-1992 Somalia had succumbed to a famine that would, along with the fighting, eventually kill 350,000 people. In May 1992 foreign agencies launched a massive aid program, and in September the U.N. sent in 3,000 peacekeepers to ensure the delivery of food relief, which had been frequently looted by factional fighters. That December U.S. troops joined the operation and in the following months restored a brief measure of calm and helped curb the famine.

But Aidid always saw the U.N. forces as interlopers whose real agenda was to deny him the presidency. After his militia ambushed and killed 24 Pakistani peacekeepers in June 1993, the U.N. issued a warrant for Aidid's arrest, with U.S. troops taking on the job of hunting him down. Then in October, 18 U.S. soldiers, along with 300 Somalis, were killed in an attack on an Aidid stronghold. What had started out as a humanitarian mission was suddenly a war between the U.S. and the elusive warlord. It proved to be a no-win confrontation for the U.S. that ended in the loss of 30 American lives, including that of a U.S. soldier whose battered body was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu to complete America's humiliation. Within months U.S. troops were gone, followed a year later by the rest of the U.N. humanitarian mission. Since then the battle for control has raged outside the international spotlight, with the stubborn Aidid increasingly isolated by his enemies.

Now that he is dead, "maybe the other warlords will find a way to sit down and talk, if for nothing else than to divide the spoils," said a Western diplomat. In the wake of the death notice, Atto and Ali Mahdi suspended military operations, and Ali Mahdi called for the convening of a national reconciliation conference. "We have decided to appeal to the Somali people to stop the war and discuss the future of Somalia," he told reporters. Aid workers are hoping to use the lull to accelerate food deliveries to civilian victims of the war, which has displaced between 200,000 and 400,000 civilians in Mogadishu alone. "We need to get them supplies," said Brenda Barton of the World Food Programme.

Mohamed Farrah Aidid may have died a hero to his fanatical supporters. But famine, death and social chaos will be his only real bequest to Somalia's long-suffering people. "He always wanted everything," said the diplomat. "His unwillingness to compromise made it impossible to work out any agreement. He was determined to be king, even if it meant destroying the kingdom." Should his removal turn out to be the key to peace, the irony will be that it was his removal that the U.N. and the U.S. were seeking to accomplish three years ago.

--Reported by Andrew Purvis/Nairobi