Somalia's interim president appealed on Thursday for international help in dealing with a powerful Islamist movement he accused of operating under the 'black flag' of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Speaking in the Kenyan capital to a US-backed panel of diplomats trying to salvage foundering peace talks between the two sides, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said the world had a "moral obligation" to help protect his weak government from "foreign terrorists."
He said the Islamists, who seized the Somali capital Mogadishu in June from warlords and now control nearly all of southern and central Somalia, were falsely portraying themselves as moderates and posed a major regional and international threat.
Yusuf, who survived a suicide car bomb assassination attempt last month, said moderates in the movement had been outmanoeuvred by extremist bent on toppling the government and creating a "safe haven" for terrorists.
"This jihadist wing of the group now controls the militia under the banner of literally the black flag of the Taliban," Yusuf told a meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia in Nairobi.
He referred to the extremists' seizure last month of the key southern Somali port of Kismayo, where Muslim gunmen took down the Somali national flag and replaced it with a black banner inscribed with a Koranic verse, prompting protests.
"A collection of foreign terrorists from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Arab (nations) and even of European origin make up a considerable number of the jihadist forces," Yusuf said.
"The (Islamists) drag massive, material, financial and military support from international terror networks," he said, noting Osama bin Laden himself had mentioned Somalia as a battleground against the West in a audio tape broadcast in July.
This is "a sworn al Qaeda promise, already partially carried out on the ground in Baidoa recently," Yusuf said, referring to the September 18 car bomb attempt to kill him in the government's temporary seat, the town of Baidoa.
He said a government probe of the attack, in which at least 11 people were killed, had uncovered extremist documents "listing a number of (government) leaders condemned as infidels and targets for immediate physical elimination."
The extremist, who arrived late for the Contact Group meeting despite saying they would send a senior representative, have denied any terror ties.
But several of their leaders are accused of links to al Qaeda and the United States believes the movement is harbouring suspects in the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who attended the Nairobi meeting, renewed those charges Thursday and said Yusuf's concerns were "credible."
"Somalia is a safe haven for terrorists," Frazer said. "We have evidence to back our claim and our concern is there always."
Their rise and subsequent enforcement of strict Islamic Sharia law in areas the Islamists control threatens the government's limited authority and alarms Western intelligence agencies, who fear a Taliban-style take-over of Somalia.
Yusuf's remarks came as the 11-member US-backed Contact Group met in a bid to salvage peace talks between the extremist and the government. A third round of talks, set for later this month, might be in jeopardy.
Both sides had threatened to boycott the Arab League-mediated talks that are supposed to open on October 30 in Khartoum after two previous rounds secured interim truce and mutual recognition accords.
But the extremist delegation to Nairobi said late Thursday it was ready to attend the peace talks without conditions.
In a statement released at the end of their meeting, the Contact Group said it was troubled by breaches in the interim peace pact.
The group "expressed concern over the threats of militarization in Somalia and, in particular, violations of previous agreements reached in Khartoum that would undermine the dialogue."
It also called on the extremist to stop expanding their control over Somali territory and urged both sides to attend the planned talks in Khartoum.
The extremist also urged the government to drop its conditions.
"The courts would like to work with the transitional federal government for the achievement of lasting peace in Somalia but the government is problematic and is setting up conditions for the peace process," said Ibrahim Hassan Addow, the foreign affairs co-ordinator for the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).
The government accuses the Arab League of bias and President Yusuf said Thursday that it should be replaced as mediator by an east African regional grouping that has proposed sending peacekeepers to support the government.
The Islamists have vowed to fight any foreign soldiers who are deployed on Somali soil and accuse neighbouring Ethiopia of sending in troops to support the government.