MOGADISHU, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The peace talks between Somali transitional government and the opposition has ended in Djibouti in deadlock, with the opposition demanding the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia and the transitional government refusing to accept, reports reaching here in Mogadishu said Sunday.

    Speaking to Xinhua from the conference venue in Djibouti, YusufAli Aynteh, adviser for the leader of the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), said the talks have been "suspended" by the UN after the Somali transitional government side refused to accept the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.

    The UN Somali envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said at a news conference in Djibouti that the talks will be closed without any result, without setting any date for the resumption of the talks which have been mediated by the UN, according to reports.

    The talks, which began late last month, was attended by top leaders of the ARS but was boycotted by hard-line members of the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, causing the split of the opposition whose leaders have now moved from Asmara, the Eritrean capital, where it was formed, to Djibouti.

    The Islamist group Al-shaab, a splinter group of the ousted Islamic Courts Union, has also boycotted the talks saying they will not negotiate with Somali government as long as Ethiopian troops and other foreign forces are on Somali soil.

    Both sides at the talks did hold direct talks for the past weeks but UN mediators have been shuttling between them.

    The opposition delegation this week briefly withdrew from a seminar held for both sides in protest after Ethiopian ambassador in Djibouti attended the seminar but returned when the UN asked all ambassadors not to attend the seminar.

    The Somali transitional government has maintained that the Ethiopian troops have come to Somalia with "the invitation by the legitimate Somali government" to help secure the war that ravaged the Horn of Africa nation.

    The Somali and Ethiopian governments say that the Ethiopian troops will only leave when security is restored in the country or when other international forces are found to replace them.

    A joint Somali and Ethiopian forces ousted in December 2006 an Islamist movement that had been in control in much of southern and central Somalia. Ethiopian and Somali governments accused the movement of threatening the then weak transitional government and the national security of Ethiopia.

    Fighters of the movement have since regrouped and have been waging guerilla attacks on Somali government forces and the Ethiopian troops backing them.

    Nearly 2,600 African Union peacekeepers are currently deployed in Mogadishu. The troops, from Uganda and Burundi, are part of a planned UN authorized 8,000-strong African Union peacekeepers.

    Other African countries that pledged to contribute did not send their contingents due to logistical and security concerns. Plans are underway to replace the African Union peacekeepers with UN peacekeepers at some later date.