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Somali exiles hopeful warlord rule in last throesAlphonso Van Marsh  Exiled Somalis watch TV coverage of a World Cup soccer match in a Nairobi, Kenya, cafe. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSNAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- A World Cup match is on a television screen at the Al-Fatxi Cafe in Nairobi. But the buzz among the swelling crowd of ethnic Somalis is about developments back home. These guys are rooting for their new "home team" -- armed fighters with the Islamic Courts Union who are taking over Somalia. The ICU is an Islamic militia that's been in a four-month battle with the largely secular warlords who have reigned over a virtually lawless country for more than 15 years. The ICU says it has control over the capital, Mogadishu. It also says it's ready to work with Somalia's U.N.-backed -- but largely ineffective -- transitional government to restore stability. "I think this is great for Somalia," said Jamiil Abdulaahi, who fled Somalia when the warlords overthrew the government and dragged the country toward anarchy in 1991. "All we want is to have peace again." Abdulaahi is a regular at the Al-Fatxi Cafe. It lies in the heart of a mostly Muslim, religiously conservative neighborhood that is home to Nairobi's Somali refugee community. Refugees I met here tell me relatives back home confirm reports that hundreds of civilians were killed as ICU fighters battled the warlords for power. But many of these Somali exiles say that despite the killings, they'd support any group -- religious-based or not -- that can bring an end to warlord rule in Somalia. "My friends, my relatives, they are all in Mogadishu," says Ahmed Bouseri, who came to Nairobi from the Somali capital seven years ago. "I telephone them, ask them how are they doing now. The situation and the stability they are enjoying now -- they say they are OK. I am ready to go back to Mogadishu, right now," he said. Not everybody is so quick to welcome the Islamic militia's advances. The United States accuses elements of the ICU of harboring al Qaeda suspects. However, a senior Bush administration official told CNN's Elise Labott that Washington doesn't view the entire ICU movement as an enemy. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials are "reserving judgment" about the nature of the ICU. Washington concernedWashington has long been concerned that Somalia could turn into a safe haven for terrorists. ICU leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has denied supporting al Qaeda and said that he has no intention of turning Somalia into a Taliban-style Islamic state. The last known U.S. direct intervention in Somalia ended in the deaths of 18 American service members in a gun battle with warlords in Mogadishu 1993. The United States was in Somalia as part of a U.N.-back humanitarian mission. But this time around, the Bush administration, according to diplomats and a former high-ranking U.S. official, supported the warlords as part of its global anti-terrorism strategy. Abdulaahi and other Somalis at Al-Fatxi Cafe say Washington backed the wrong people and now should rally around both the ICU and Somalia's transitional government if it wants to regain credibility in their homeland. The United States may be leaning toward recognizing the ICU. The State Department on Friday announced a hastily arranged international conference in New York, scheduled for next week. The U.S., European and African officials invited to attend will discuss the tightening grip of Islamic militias in Somalia, the agency said. 
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