Somali Islamists and politicians to resume talks

MOGADISHU, Nov 10 (Reuters) Somali Islamists and members of the interim parliament, in a last-ditch effort to avert war, agreed today to resume Arab League-led talks that collapsed last month.

After meeting this week in Mogadishu, Islamist officials and Somali parliamentarians led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan agreed to ''cease current hostilities and avoid any activities that would heighten tensions'', a deal signed by both sides said.

The statement said in part: ''(We have agreed) to continue with the talks agreed by both sides to take place in Khartoum that is organised by the Arab league and Sudan.'' The Islamists, who rule much of southern Somalia after seizing Mogadishu from US-backed warlords in June, and the interim government are locked in a confrontation many fear may engulf the Horn of Africa.

But it was not clear if President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi would consent to the agreement.

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Diplomats say Adan plans to present the deal to Yusuf with the aim of having it put to a vote in parliament.

Talks broke down two weeks ago after the Islamists refused to accept Kenya as co-chair of the talks and demanded Ethiopian troops protecting the government leave Somalia.

The groups urged foreign countries to stay out of Somali affairs to let them solve the country's problems alone.

They urged the United Nations not to waive a 1992 arms embargo, requested by Yusuf to allow in African peacekeeper to help his government establish the authority that has thus far escaped it.

''If the arms embargo is lifted it will cause a war with far-reaching consequences that will affect the entire region,'' the statement said.

Tension is high in Somalia as troops from both sides face off near Baidoa, the seat of the weak Western-backed government, and at Galinsoor in the north. Government-allied troops from semi-autonomous Puntland and Islamists skirmished there last week.

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