By Aziz El Kaissouni CAIRO, April 3 (Reuters) - The Arab League on Tuesday said "extremists" should have no role in national reconciliation in Somalia where close to 400 civilians have been killed in recent fighting between insurgents and the Ethiopian-backed government. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told the opening session of the International Contact Group on Somalia that reconciliation was the key to ending fighting in Mogadishu, which aid agencies say is the worst in 15 years. But the process should not include "those who chose the way of violence and extremism", he added in an apparent reference to the country's formerly powerful Islamist movement. The United States, which backs the government and its ally Ethiopia, has long said all Somalis including Islamists should be involved in a reconciliation conference scheduled for April 16 in Mogadishu as long as they renounce violence and extremism. Washington has accused some top Islamists of al Qaeda links. The U.S. military twice struck suspected Islamist strongholds in air attacks in January, after Ethiopian and Somali troops cornered insurgents at the end of a two-week war. Some former Islamists are now part of an insurgent alliance against the government, which has international backing but has struggled to rein in the anarchy in Somalia. It took Mogadishu in late December, after defeating the Islamists with Ethiopian military might. The contact group includes representatives of the European Union, Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Tanzania and the United States, with the United Nations and African Union as observers. Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen told the meeting the Ethiopian military presence in Somalia was unsustainable and it was time to prepare for a withdrawal. Moussa agreed, saying the solution was to deploy an African Union force as the Ethiopians pull out. A small African Union peacekeeping force, made up of some 1,200 Ugandan soldiers, has failed to stem the violence. Many believe it has stirred up the insurgents by providing a highly visible "foreign" target. Ethiopian forces have been drawn down, but remain in Mogadishu helping to protect the government until more AU troops arrive. Several countries have pledged soldiers, but only Uganda has sent them so far. Somali experts have been sceptical the meeting in Cairo will have any real effect on the ground. The group is expected again to urge dialogue and reconciliation, and express concern over the large civilian casualty toll.
