NAIROBI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A top United Nations envoy for Somalia on Thursday condemned the resumption of hostilities in Mogadishu as the death toll rises to 30.

    In a statement issued in Nairobi, the UN secretary general's Special Representative for Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall said he was deeply disturbed by the cost to the civilian population, the wasting of opportunities to reconcile and reconstruct the country, and the impact of heightened insecurity on UN relief responses to a severe drought emergency.

    "Somalia is already at war with nature and poverty on a scale that is difficult to conceive. The last thing this country needs is for its leaders to be fighting among themselves. I appeal to all parties to immediately and unconditionally hold their fire and respect the needs of the people," the envoy said.

    "This is a time for pulling together, not for pulling further apart. I appeal to those faction leaders in Mogadishu, who are also ministers in the transitional federal government, to put down their arms and join the political process in Baidoa for the good of the nation," Fall added.

    The latest upsurge in violence which resumed on Tuesday night comes despite a truce agreement between the two groups on May 14.

    Islamic militiamen have reportedly taken key points in Somalia's capital, as fighting intensifies with their rivals- a secular grouping of warlords.

    Militiamen loyal to the Islamic Courts have isolated the warlords in the north and south of the city in fighting that claimed at least 30 lives on Thursday.

    More than 150 people died in eight days of fighting earlier this month.

    But the UN envoy urged all warring parties to find a solution to the current problems in Mogadishu within the framework of the Somali Transitional Federal Charter.

    He said he was deeply disturbed by reports that militia of the union of the Shariah Courts and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism were redeploying in and around the city and resupplying their lines with munitions, with external assistance in direct breach of the UN arms embargo.

    "I am also troubled by reports of children being recruited from the streets and the schools to carry on these adult struggles for control and influence. With every new gun, grenade or bullet there is the greater likelihood of civilian casualties," Fall said.

    The Islamic Courts grouping has reportedly cut the north-south road along the coast, taking a key crossroads known as K4 and an important nearby hotel, the Sahafi.

    This has left the warlords of the Anti-Terrorism Alliance with only a small pocket of support in the center of the city.

    "The UN and the international community as a whole, is firmly committed to building on its longstanding support for Somalia. However, we need a country that is universally committed to security for those efforts so that we can move ahead at maximum speed," said Fall.

    "It is essential that all parties respect basic humanitarian and human rights norms of access for all Somalis in need as well as protection for those who are attempting to deliver what is needed for people to rise above their differences and their poverty," the UN envoy said.

    Fall said that the United Nations agencies and organizations were determined to stay the course in Somalia.

    "Our people are operational in emergency mode today across the spectrum of human needs in Somalia," he said.

    "There is no question that we will continue to deliver, as we have for decades in Somalia, ramping up our support as needed in food and water supply, health care and shelter, both for local populations and for the tens of thousands of Somalis who have been displaced internally by prolonged conflict, drought and flood," said Fall.

    Fall said however that the most serious obstacles to national progress would remain until those with the guns and political influence made a serious commitment to internal peace and reconciliation.

    "The power for peace and change for the better in Somalia is in the hands of the warlords and I urge them, as a first step, to sit together and discuss a vision that gives everyone in Somalia a chance."

    Several ministers involved in the fighting are reported to have resigned from the transitional government, saying that others in the administration had not been doing enough to stem the unrest.

    Their resignations reportedly came as they failed to meet a government ultimatum to join the rest of the ministers in Baidoa.

    The latest fighting between Muslim militias and Somalia's secular warlords further dampens attempts to restore order to Somalia, which has been swept by anarchy for the past 15 years, since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

    A transitional Somali government based in the northern city of Baidoa has so far been unable to establish control of the Horn of Africa country. Enditem