Somalia — Clan elders and Islamic clerics are going to mediate between Islamist insurgents and the newly elected president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, officials told radio Shabelle on Monady.

Sheik Nor Barud Gurhan, a spokesman of Islamic clerics, who have been mediating between Islamist insurgents and Ahmed Derie Ali, the spokesman of Hawiye traditional elders, said on Monday they want to mediate the Islamist insurgents and the Somali government to solve the Somali crises through dialogue.

The move came after the newly elected Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed on Sunday held meetings with senior security officials and local clan leaders in the capital Mogadishu over security and the need to open reconciliation talks with insurgent groups which are opposed to the Somali transitional government.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who arrived in Mogadishu on Saturday for the first time since his election, held "consultative talks" with ministers in the caretaker government, security chiefs and local religious and clan leaders, Abdulahi Qadar, the presidential spokesman, told radio Shabelle.

The Somali president also held talks with religious and clan elders in Mogadishu and both sides have agreed that the national reconciliation should continue and talks with the opposition groups should begin urgently.

"We asked the president to keep on talking with those opposed to his government and accommodate everyone into the peace and he accepted it," Ahmed Dirie, said.

Dirie said the president also accepted their offer of mediation between the government and the opposition, adding that the elders would try to get the consent of the opposition leaders for their mediation role.

He said he was cautiously optimistic that "a solution would be found for the disagreements between the two sides".

Both Islamic clerics and clan elders expressed hope that the new government would work peace and reconciliation.

Abdirisaq Adan, the advisor of the Somalia's president said the government will restore peace and order in Mogadishu with in three months.