July 4 (Reuters) - Even by Somali standards, the last 12 months in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation have been tumultuous as the interim government has tried to take control.

Here is a snapshot of what has happened in Somalia since 2006.

* A NEW GOVERNMENT:

-- The first meeting of the country's parliament on home soil took place in Baidoa in February 2006, nearly two years after it was formed in the safety of neighbouring Kenya.

-- Lawmakers elected Ethiopian-backed warlord Abdullahi Yusuf as president and Ali Mohamed Gedi as prime minister to run the 14th attempt at government in Somalia since warlords ousted the last president, dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, in 1991.

* A NEW ORDER:

-- In June 2006, after winning a bloody three-month battle against U.S.-backed warlords, Islamist militia calling themselves the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) seized the capital, Mogadishu. Washington accused the SICC of al Qaeda links.

-- Taming Mogadishu has been the holy grail for every attempt at government since 1991 and only the insurgent Islamists succeeded in stabilising it, by imposing what critics called a harsh version of Islamic law.

-- Islamist fighters succeeded in getting control of most of the country's south, before advancing west on the interim government's base in Baidoa.

* A QUICK RETURN:

-- With the tacit approval of the United States, Somalia's neighbour Ethiopia sent in troops to prop up the interim government and defend against an Islamist attack on Baidoa late in December.

-- With the Baidoa battle as the spark, the better-armed Ethiopian and Somali force advanced rapidly and ran the Islamists all the way to Somalia's southern tip. Mogadishu fell to the government in the last days of December, without a shot being fired after the Islamists fled.

* DEATH ON THE STREETS:

-- Two rounds of vicious fighting between Ethiopian-Somali troops and suspected Islamist insurgents sent residents fleeing the city in droves in early 2007 and killed at least 1,300 people, mainly civilians.

-- The United Nations said more than 390,000 Somalis had abandoned the city since February, though the government disputes that figure. In recent weeks, about 90,000 had returned to their homes in Mogadishu.

-- The African Union called for a peacekeeping force of 8,000 to be dispatched to Somalia. But only Uganda responded immediately with 1,600 troops.

-- Full-scale conflict has given way to almost daily guerrilla-style attacks on Ethiopian military and Somali government targets. Most of the casualties have been civilians.

-- Crucial to establishing a final peace will be a national reconciliation congress scheduled for July 15 that Gedi said would be "inclusive" -- a tall order in a country where so many factions and clans have been vying for power for some 16 years.

(Writing by David Cutler in London)

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