The Somali government and the Islamic courts are preparing to meet in Sudan on Monday for peace talks aimed at defusing tensions among the rival groups, officials confirmed on Sunday.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said late Saturday he hoped next week's peace talks with the Islamic movement would help avoid an all-out war in the Horn of Africa nation.

Gedi said that the government side will be led by Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, speaker of the interim parliament, who had previously quit his post as chief negotiator for the government delegation.

"The Somali government wishes the meeting will have a meaningful conclusion. Somalia is in a very critical condition. We are ready to implement any agreements reached. We are ready to play our role in achieving a solution to the Somali problem," Gedi said.

The third round of peace talks between the Somali government and the Islamic movement scheduled to open in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday are considered the best chances of defusing tension between the two rival groups.

Kenyan ambassador to Somalia Mohamed Affey said Sunday the talks would go ahead as planned, dismissing allegations by the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) that Kenya, which will co-chair the meeting in Khartoum with the League of Arab States, had taken sides in the dispute.

"The meeting is on and Kenya will play a facilitation role. We will do our best to be good mediators. The Arab League has confirmed to Kenyan authorities that both parties in the conflict would attend the meeting in Khartoum," Affey said by telephone.

The rising influence of the Islamic courts militia, which controls much of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, has undermined the authority of the government based in Baidoa, a dusty provincial outpost, 250 km northwest of the capital.

The two sides have met twice in the Sudanese capital for talks that have produced little other than a promise to recognize each other and not make any military moves.

Peace talks stalled after the government said that the Islamists had violated the accord against military expansion by seizing more territory, and Islamists claimed of foreign interference in Somalia.

About 34,000 Somali refugees have arrived in Kenya since the beginning of 2006, with a dramatic rise in the number of newcomers in the past two months.

Another 130,000 Somali refugees have been living in the Dadaab area of eastern Kenya since 1991.

Somalia has been without a functioning central administration since 1991 and the government, formed in neighboring Kenya in 2004, has been wracked by infighting and its inability to assert control over much of the country.

Source: Xinhua