Somalia's Islamic leaders hold talks with transitional government after apparent U.S. turnaround

(AP) Islamic militia leaders who seized Somalia's capital this week and are accused of harboring al-Qaida fugitives started discussing the future of the lawless country Thursday with its largely powerless U.N.-backed government.

The meeting came a day after the Bush administration sounded a surprising conciliatory note toward the militia.

The aim of the Islamic Courts Union, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, "is to try to lay the foundations for some institutions in Somalia that might form the basis for a better and more peaceful, secure Somalia where the rule of law is important."

"I think that as a matter of principle that we would look forward to working with groups or individuals who have an interest in a better, more peaceful, more stable, secure Somalia ... who are also interested in fighting terrorism," he said.

The statement was a surprising turnaround for the United States, which had been waging a proxy fight against the militia, said John Prendergast, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group. However, he said, it was important that the United States work with powers on the ground in Somalia to bring stability to the country.

"It's a bit schizophrenic," Prendergast said. "The overriding imperative now is to bring together Somalia's warring parties into a process of state reconstruction that will provide our best antidote against extremism."

Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Nur Mohamed Dinari said two ministers from the interim administration were meeting with "top leaders of the Islamic Courts Union on Thursday" in Mogadishu.

The Islamic militia captured the capital and surrounding areas when it defeated a U.S.-backed alliance of secular warlords after weeks of bloody fighting that killed at least 330 people, many of them civilians caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, the weak interim government, wracked by infighting, has not been able to move into the capital because of the violence, instead operating 155 miles away in Baidoa.

Nearly 2,000 people took to the streets of Mogadishu demanding that the militia get out, showing how difficult it will be for the Islamists to hold the capital.

The growing power of the Islamic militia raised fears that Somalia could fall under the sway of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, have confirmed cooperating with the secular warlords in an attempt to root out terrorists.

U.S. officials said recently that Islamic leaders in Mogadishu are sheltering three al-Qaida leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The same al-Qaida cell is believed responsible for the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya, which killed 15 people, and a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner over Kenya.

In a letter to the United States and other governments, the chairman of the Islamic Courts Union said Washington bore some blame for the bloodshed.

"The alleged support of the U.S. government to these warlords has contributed considerably to the recent fighting in Mogadishu and the killing of the Somali people who have suffered so long in the hands of these warlords," according to a letter dated Wednesday and signed by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

McCormack confirmed that the Islamic Courts Union had sent a letter to the United States.

Somalia has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, dividing this nation of 8 million into a patchwork of rival fiefdoms.

The interim government includes several members allied with the Islamic courts. As the court militia gained power, four government Cabinet members loyal to the secular alliance were fired, further weakening it.

Its remnants were trying desperately to regroup in Jowhar, their last remaining stronghold, about 60 miles from the capital. If militiamen capture Jowhar and consolidate power in Mogadishu, the Islamic Courts Union will effectively control all the major towns in southern Somalia.

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Associated Press reporters Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Michael Weissenstein in New York contributed to this report.