Mediators in Somali peace talks on Tuesday threatened to pull out of the convoluted process aimed at restoring a semblance of a national government in the Horn of Africa nation.

Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, who chairs mediators from the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said they will consider pulling out of the process if no progress is reached by May 6.

"We cannot continue this extremely costly process forever. If there will be no progress, then the IGAD ministerial conference that I plan for May 6 will decide whether to continue or to pull out. They can decide to go to UN and say we cannot handle this anymore." Musyoka explained.

"It is a very painful process," Musyoka said of the efforts to end anarchy and bloodletting that has ravaged Somalia since 1988 when a civil war that led to the 1991 toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre erupted.

More than a dozen internationally backed conferences have failed to restore peace and a form of central government to the war-torn country - Sapa-AFP.