MOGADISHU, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The radical Islamist group of Al Shabaab in Somalia on Monday said it will not be weakened by moves by a number of governments to ban it from operating and seeking funds in their respective countries.

Britain this week said it plans to follow suit with the U.S., Canada and Australian in listing the hardline group as a terrorist entity and banning its operation within their respective countries.

"(The move) is part of the wider conflict between Muslims and Christians and it will not harm us but will only confirm to us that ours is the right path," Ali Mohamoud Rage, spokesman for the group told reporters in Mogadishu.

The Islamist movement which is waging a deadly insurgency against Somali government and African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces has recently declared its association with Al Qaeda.

The UK move to ban the movement comes as the Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed plans to go on an official state visit to Britain where he is expected to meet the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior officials.

The Islamist spokesman attributed the timing of the British plan to ban the organization as an attempt to pressure the Somali Diaspora in the UK who he said are opposed to the British support for the peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu which the group sees as an occupying force.

"It is meant to pressure Somali Diasporas to welcome the leader of the apostate government and that they will be branded as supporters of Al Shabaab if they did not," Rageh told reporters in Mogadishu.

Two British citizens are currently being held hostage by Somali pirates after they sea-jacked the elderly couple's yacht last October as it sailed across the Indian Ocean towards Tanzania. The pirates are demanding a ransom of seven million U.S. dollars for the release of the British hostages.

Al Shabaab, which says it has no links with the pirates, controls much of south and center of Somalia and have carried out a number of high profile attacks against Somali government officials and African Union peacekeeping forces.

The group has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks in Somalia using car bombs and explosive vests as well as deadly roadside bombs and near daily attacks on Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu.