CAIRO Ñ Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies are being accused of funding weapons purchases for Somalia.

Opposition sources said Riyad and several unnamed Arab countries have transferred millions of dollars to the government in Mogadishu. They said the money is being termed by Arab supporters of the government as civilian aid.

Somalia is being led by a so-called transitional national government. The regime, headed by Abd Qassim, is being opposed by a host of groups both inside and outside of the country.

"The money that the Saudis and others are giving to Abd Qassim's group is not used for development," Abdullah Sheik Ismail, chairman of the opposition Somali Restoration and Reconciliation Council, said. "It is being used to buy arms."

The group is based in Addis Ababa, the capital in Ethiopia. Ismail, in an interview to the African media, urged the Saudis and their unnamed Arab allies to end support for the government in Mogadishu.

"We call on all Arab countries to stop funding the war machinery in Somalia," Ismail said.

The government and the opposition are being urged by African and Western countries to launch a process of reconciliation. So far, the violence around Somalia continues.

In nearby Sudan, opposition groups have approved a new draft of a plan by Egypt and Libya. The regime in Khartoum has rejected the plan, in which Sudan would install a transitional government with the participation of all parties.

For its part, Khartoum rejected the proposals for an interim government. The plan is said to include ethnic and religious pluralism and guarantees on human rights.

"The talk about transforming the [current] Salvation [government] into an interim system and President [Omar] Bashir into an interim head of state is ruled out," Vice President Ali Othman Taha said

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