MINNEAPOLIS –– Somali-American community leaders called for a boycott of "Black Hawk Down," charging the new movie depicts their African homeland's people as savages and could create a backlash against refugees who fled to the United States.

Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, said about a dozen people from the center saw a preview of the movie this week and were shocked. Minnesota is home to at least 25,000 Somalis, believed to be the biggest concentration in the nation.

"We don't know what Americans will think of us Somalis after they watch this movie," Jamal said Thursday.

"The Somali people are depicted as very savage beasts without any human element," he said. "It's just people shooting each other."

The movie, which opened Friday, portrays a 1993 firefight that left 18 American soldiers dead. They were part of a mission aimed at restoring peace and averting famine in the country in the wake of the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Jamal said the movie left out that thousands of Somalis were killed in the conflict. The Advocacy Center planned to distribute fliers at theaters explaining the history of the conflict.

With the focus back on Somalia as a possible hideout for al-Qaida members, the movie compounds the possible repercussions for local Somalis, who have worked since Sept. 11 to show their support in the war against terrorism, Jamal said.

He cited the death of a Somali man punched at a Minneapolis bus stop in October, which triggered accusations in the Somali and Muslim communities of a hate crime. No one has been charged.

"The community is shocked and really afraid of the consequences of this movie," Jamal said. "It's a big psychological setback of our efforts."

                                    © 2002 The Associated Press