Somali president promises peace talks soon with all groups

* Islamic militants control large parts of the country

* Instability helps fuel piracy off Somali coast

By Haitham Haddadin

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Somalia's president said on Friday that his U.N.-backed government will resume talks soon with armed rebels and other factions to end violence in the Horn of Africa nation.

"We will continue the open political dialogue that we have started with all Somali parties including the armed rebels," President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told the U.N. General Assembly.

The interim government's attempts to restore central rule have been paralyzed by infighting and an Islamist-led insurgency. Fighting has killed some 18,000 people since the start of 2007 and has uprooted at least 1 million civilians. The chaos has also helped fuel kidnappings and piracy offshore.

"We intend to sit down at the negotiating table with these anti-government parties. This will take place as soon as possible and in any time and place in order to end the violence in our country," he said.

"We will exert all the efforts we can to find a permanent political settlement for the struggle in Somalia to safeguard our sovereignty, the safety of our people and the unity of our land," added Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel.

An al Qaeda-inspired militant group, Al Shabaab, controls large parts of south and central Somalia, a country mired in anarchy since the 1991 toppling by warlords of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.