UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The United States asked the U.N. Security Council on Friday to help prop up Somalia's shaky government with an African peacekeeping force that would exclude troops from bordering states such as Ethiopia.

A U.S. draft resolution obtained by Reuters would also ease a widely ignored 14-year-old U.N. arms embargo on Somalia to enable the peacekeepers to legally bring in arms and train and equip local security forces.

Stressing that its sole goal was to support peace and stability in Somalia through "an inclusive political process," the measure would call on the Islamists to halt any further military expansion and reject individuals "with an extremist agenda or links to international terrorism."

But it also would call for a "credible dialogue" between the Islamists and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and state the council's willingness to engage with any party "committed to achieving a political settlement through peaceful and inclusive dialogue."

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