NAIROBI, 31 January (IRIN) - A member of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, has denied reports of a split within the government over the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops and relocation to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
"I am not aware of any such split," Aden Ibbi Abdirahman, the state minister for parliamentary relations, told IRIN on Monday. He was reacting to reports in local Somali media.
"I think it is a figment of someone's imagination," added Ibbi, who is a member of the relocation committee.
According to Somali political sources, a section of the cabinet agrees with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed that peacekeepers should be deployed in Mogadishu before the government relocates there.
"He has the support of many cabinet members," one source said. A supporter of Yusuf's position told IRIN peacekeepers were "essential and necessary" before the government went to Mogadishu.
Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi, on the other hand, wants part of the cabinet to relocate to Mogadishu and "assess the situation on whether peacekeepers are needed or not" rather than condition the relocation on the deployment of foreign troops, a source who supports Gedi's position told IRIN.
Another source told IRIN "the issue is real and it is taking on a clan dimension". The Hawiye clan, to which Gedi belongs, broadly supports the prime minister's position, he said, while most members of the Darod clan, to which the president belongs, support Yusuf's view that peacekeepers should be there first to help restore order and maintain law.
The other main clans, the Digil and Mirifle as well as the Dir, are said to be divided on the issue, with some supporting Yusuf and others supporting Gedi, one source noted.
The issue is to be put before Somalia's parliament and council of ministers for a final decision, which will not come until the return of Yusuf, who left on Sunday for an African Union (AU) summit in Abuja, Nigeria.
Somalia's transitional government has come under increasing pressure from the Kenyan government and western diplomats to relocate to Somalia. It has set up three teams composed of cabinet ministers to make arrangements needed for the relocation. However, the new government, which includes several faction leaders, has not moved from Nairobi, citing security considerations.
There is a unanimous agreement within the government on the relocation strategy, "but there are differences on its implementation - particularly as it pertains to Mogadishu and in relation to the deployment of AU peacekeepers", a western diplomat involved in the Somali peace process told IRIN on Monday.
The situation is complicated by recent security incidents in Mogadishu, he added.
On 23 January, unidentified gunmen in Mogadishu killed Gen Yusuf Ahmed Sarinle, who was the acting police chief. Sarinle served as deputy police chief under the former Transitional National Government and had pledged to support the current government.