Somali government prepares to return home from Kenya

12 Jun 2005

NAIROBI, June 12 (Reuters) - Somalia's new government swore in several ministers and held its last parliamentary session in Kenya on Sunday before it starts returning home on Monday after a nine-month delay over security worries.

But without foreign peacekeepers, the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf fears the militia-rule in Somalia will prevent ministers and their teams from carrying out their work in safety, free from violence, corruption and extortion.

Yusuf and nearly 140 legislators who support him attended Somalia's last parliamentary session in Nairobi. The session also swore in a new information minister and several junior ministers.

Officials said parliament took a break and will reopen after two months in Somalia, which has been without a central government for the past 14 years.

Citing insecurity, the fledgling Somali government has repeatedly postponed plans to relocate back to Somalia, which remains a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by rival warlords.

Only last week, Mogadishu gunmen remanned roadblocks that had been dismantled to try to prove the Somali capital was safe enough to be home to the government.

"I am pleased to note that the transitional federal President of the republic of Somalia and his government ... have finalised plans to relocate and are now ready to go back home," said Kenyan minister John Koech.

The Somali government has been under pressure from diplomats and Kenya to quickly relocate to Somalia.

But a row over whether the government should be installed in the capital Mogadishu, Jowhar or Baidoa has caused a major split in the government, further contributing to the delayed return.

Yusuf's spokesman Yusuf Baribari said various government departments would relocate to all the three towns.

Speaking about the security concerns, Koech said the U.N. Security Council should give the go ahead for the deployment of African Union troops into Somalia.

Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. secretary-general's envoy to Somalia said the AU troops had not yet deployed to Somalia because of a U.N. arms embargo which they wanted lifted.

"I specifically appeal to the United Nations to complete necessary formalities to enable deployment of the (peacekeeping) force in order to guarantee security for the new Somali government," Koech said at a meeting of regional ministers discussing Somalia's relocation plans.