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MINNEAPOLIS - The voice on the other end of the telephone line was seeking help from the other side of the world.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed called a gathering of influential Somalis in Minneapolis last month to brief them on the takeover a week earlier of the capital Mogadishu by a group known then as the Union of Islamic Courts.

"He asked for our support and our advice," said Ali Khalif Galaydh, a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a former prime minister of the troubled east African country.

At the time, Ahmed was the Islamic militia's presumed leader and was seen as a relative moderate. Since then, another leader has moved to the forefront - Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys - who is on the U.S. terrorist watch list as a suspected collaborator with al-Qaida.

Galaydh told the Star Tribune that the Minnesota Somalis on the call advised the new rulers they should convince the outside world they are not radicals connected to terrorists, and that they should work with the United Nations-backed transitional government operating from the city of Baidoa.

Minnesota is home to what's thought to be the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States - an estimated 30,000, including about 25,000 in the Twin Cities. They include two former prime ministers and several former cabinet members, Galaydh said, as well as many prominent doctors, lawyers and religious leaders.

"This metro area is very much on the political map of Somalia," Galaydh said.

Some Minnesota Somalis expect to go home within the next few weeks, he said, hoping to help shape the shaky order emerging from the Islamic militia's takeover.

Somalis in Minnesota hold a range of opinions and do not speak with one voice, but many downplay fears that a radical, Taliban-like rule has taken hold there. And they are grateful for the relative peace in Mogadishu. Some said both Aweys and Ahmed are leaders in a loose coalition that has yet to fully define its ideology.

Hassan Mohamud, a Minneapolis lawyer and an imam at a local Islamic center, also participated in the phone call with Ahmed.

Mohamud said, "We asked him many questions to clarify who they are."

Knowing that Minnesota Somalis yearn for law and order at home, he said, Ahmed pledged, "This is the beginning of what you are looking for."

But Ethiopia's plans are a major worry, Galaydh said.

Ethiopia has deployed thousands of troops to its border with Somalia, apparently poised to cross over to protect Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the president in the transitional government in Baidoa. Aweys has accused Ethiopia of sending troops into Somali border towns.

"If Ethiopian troops come to Somalia, this will inflame the whole situation, not just in Somalia but in the region," Galaydh said.

An estimated 3,000 Minnesota Somalis live in and around St. Cloud in central Minnesota, where some told the St. Cloud Times they do worry that the Islamic militia might want to make Somalia into a fundamentalist state that supports international terrorism, much like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

"I'm not optimistic," said Badal Ali, a St. Cloud resident who operates a grocery store that sells halal foods, grown and prepared to meet Muslim standards. "It looks like there could be a new tribal war, and we can only watch from here."

Recent developments in their homeland have polarized some in the refugee community, said Abdi Mohamed, who runs a tax-preparation business out of the same store.

"There have been fights and arguments," he said. "Some people say the Islamic group are the only ones who can restore order. But if the interim government does not take control, I don't see how there can be peace."

Most Somalis in Minnesota have not been home since they fled the violence, and many were hopeful that things were becoming stable enough to think about returning, at least for a visit, said Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization, a nonprofit that helps refugees.

"America is like a second homeland for many Somalis, but Somalia is our first home," he said. "It doesn't mean they would disappear from here, but rebuilding Somalia is a duty for every Somali, and everyone would be interested in doing it if they can."

Source: Associated Press