Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on radical Islamists in Somalia to rise up and oust President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, according to an audiotape posted on the Internet on Thursday.
Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, was elected president of the war-ravaged African state only in January following UN-brokered reconciliation talks, and pledged to reach out to hardline groups.
"This Sheikh Sharif... must be fought and toppled," bin Laden said in a message addressed to the "champions of Somalia," the third audiotape attributed to bin Laden that has been broadcast this year.
"He is like the (Arab) presidents who are in the pay of our enemies."
In the previous bin Laden recording on Saturday, the terrorist mastermind accused some Arab leaders of being "complicit" with Israel and the West against Muslims and urged holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories.