Somali Islamists tell president to step down

By Abdi Sheikh and Mohamed Ahmed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A Somali rebel group has told the Horn of Africa nation's embattled president to resign and said hardline Islamists had succeeded where the government had failed, in establishing order in areas they controlled.

Hizbul Islam, which has waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile interim government alongside the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, urged Somalia's Muslims to unite and join the Islamists' struggle.

"President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed ought to quit. He has nothing for the people except a call for more foreign troops that massacre Somalis," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of Hizbul Islam, told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Hardline Islamists control vast tracts of south and central Somalia and much of the capital Mogadishu, hemming the government into just a few blocks manned by African Union (AU) peacekeepers.

In recent days, the militants have intensified their offensive on government targets and killed four Ugandan peacekeepers deployed near the presidential palace.

Bent on imposing a strict version of sharia, Islamic law, on the nation, the militants routinely carry out stonings and amputations and have banned football, music and school bells in areas they control. They claim to have restored law and order.

JOIN THE JIHAD

"I urge Islamists to unite. Areas under the control of Islamists are peaceful. They are the good Muslims who can rule the country," Aweys said.