Mogadishu: Somali Islamist Shaikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on Monday the exiled opposition would not negotiate with a rival faction that signed a peace deal with the government.

"Reconciliation would be good, but we and the Djibouti group have reached a point of no return," said Aweys, who is on US and UN lists of Al Qaida associates.

"It's obvious they will not come back and join us," he told Reuters from Asmara.

A faction led by moderate Shaikh Sharif Ahmed signed a pact in Djibouti with the interim government in June, outlining the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and the deployment of UN peacekeepers. The formal signing is to take place in Mecca.

However, Aweys and rebels in Somalia have rejected the deal.