February 08 2005 at 10:41AM
By Tom Maliti
Nairobi - Somalia's transitional government plans to relocate in phases to Somalia, giving up the relative safety of neighbouring Kenya for a chaotic land where they have no army, no civil service and no buildings, the deputy prime minister said on Monday.
The move to Somalia is scheduled to start on February 21, said Deputy Prime Minister Mohamud Abdullahi Jama, adding that officials are still waiting on assessments of the security situation in Mogadishu, the capital, before deciding where to set up their base in the country, which has effectively had no central government since 1991.
Jama said the government considered it important to relocate to Somalia as soon as possible, even if it meant they had to temporarily set up base in a town safer than Mogadishu, a city split between heavily armed factions.
The government - established in October following two years of peace talks among clan leaders, warlords and other Somalis - has repeatedly said it was planning to go to Somalia only to delay the move, and Jama did not provide any additional details of the latest relocation plan or say when President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed would go to Somalia.
But Jama did say that once the government is up and running in Somalia, it plans to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate human rights violations that have taken place since the country disintegrated into a patchwork of battling fiefdoms following the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. However, the commission's scope and mandate have not yet been determined, he said.
The United Nations' independent expert on human rights in Somalia, Ghanim Alnajjar, said the commission "is necessary because there have been serious crimes and human rights violations and victims are crying out". Alnajjar recently visited parts of Somalia.
Transitional parliament speaker Shariif Hassan Sheikh Aden is currently leading a delegation of some 60 lawmakers and Cabinet ministers to Somalia, assessing conditions in Mogadishu. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi is planning a follow up mission to other towns after Aden returns in the coming days and briefs the 275-member transitional parliament, said Jama, who is also information minister.
Whether the government decides to move to Mogadishu or another town, if faces considerable challenges - it has no money, no civil service or even buildings in Somalia.
Officials are counting on African Union and Arab League peacekeepers to ensure their safety as they try to rebuild a government.
Jama said the Cabinet decided on Saturday to request the African Union and Arab League send between 5 000 and 7 500 troops with a one-year mandate to protect the government as it organises a police force and army. Yusuf in December requested 20 000 peacekeepers.
The African Union has agreed to send a force, but officials privately say it will be limited in size and scope. Uganda has promised 2 000 troops.
But in Mogadishu on Monday, the acting head of Somalia's nominal security forces, General Mohamed Warsame, insisted Somalis could provide adequate security for their own leaders, saying 3 500 former policemen and soldiers who served under Siad Barre have offered their services to the transitional government.
But if peacekeepers are sent, they should be Muslims and none should come from neighbouring countries, Warsame said.
The request for peacekeepers has angered many in Mogadishu, where the deployment of US and UN troops in the 1990s sparked some of the worst fighting of the war. Some Islamic militants have threatened to attack any foreign troops deployed in Somalia. - Sapa-AP
Associated Press Writer Osman Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu, Somalia.