( CNN ) -- Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said Saturday he will give in to a rebel demand that he impose Islamic law , or sharia , in an effort to halt fighting between Somali forces and Islamic insurgents . President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed says sharia law in Somalia will not be strict . However , Ahmed told a news conference he wo n't agree to a strict interpretation of the law , which forbids girls from attending school , requires veils for women and beards for men , and bans music and television . The president , speaking at his palace in the capital , Mogadishu , said local elders and religious leaders , acting as liaisons with the militants , brought him a message saying the rebels wanted a truce in the two-year-old fighting . He also asked African peacekeepers to stand down . Ahmed , who was elected January 31 , said he would ask the AU contingent to leave once there is a solid political solution to the conflict . More than 40,000 Somalis have returned to abandoned neighborhoods in Mogadishu over the past six weeks , despite some of the heaviest fighting in months , the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday . They are part of the more than a million residents who have been displaced by fighting in Somalia , including 100,000 who fled to neighboring countries last year alone , according to the United Nations . Ethiopian troops entered the country at its request in December 2006 . The Ethiopians ousted the Islamic Courts Union , an Islamic movement that had claimed control of Mogadishu earlier that year . Ethiopia 's action had the blessing of the United States , which accused the Islamic Courts Union of harboring fugitives from al Qaeda . But various Islamist groups -- including al-Shabab , which the United States has designated a terror organization -- rejected the presence of Ethiopian forces and mounted an insurgent campaign against the Ethiopians and the transitional government . From Mohamed Amiin Adow for CNN .
Concession is attempt to halt fighting between Somali forces , Islamic insurgents . Score: 6 President also has asked African peacekeepers to stand down .