Britain wants Somalia government back home

By Biketi Kikechi

Britain yesterday called for speedy relocation of the new Somali Government from Nairobi to Mogadishu.

The Secretary for African Affairs, Mr Chris Mullin, said the international community should help the new President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, take control of his country.

"The President should secure his territory. He should be in charge of his country," said Mullin.

The new government, he said, would get more support when it

starts operating from Somalia.

The minister said he would tour Somaliland today, to help in the process of integrating the Somali government.

Earlier in the week, Mullin met members of the Somali Parliament who are currently working from Nairobi. He is expected to meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

during his tour of the region.

Sources said he would ask Ethiopia to support the new government. Somaliland, a province of the larger Somalia, was under British rule before independence while the larger

Somalia was under the control of Italy.

Analysts believe the self-declared independent Somaliland and Ethiopia hold the key to restoring and order in Somalia.

Some Somali warlords have in the past accused landlocked Ethiopia of allegedly taking sides and fueling the war for its own interests.

President Ahmed was elected early this month in the first post-war elections.

He was sworn in at a colourful ceremony attended by 10 heads of state in Nairobi.