SOMALIA: Transitional government sets relocation date//CORRECTED REPEAT
 

NAIROBI, 9 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Somalia’s transitional federal government plans to start relocating from Nairobi, Kenya, to Mogadishu on 21 February, Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi said on Wednesday.

"We will begin relocating on that date depending on support from the donor community," Gedi said in Nairobi at the signing of a declaration of principles for cooperation with the international community. "A budget for relocation has been drawn up and handed over to donors."

The declaration of principles was signed by Gedi and the acting representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, Babafemi Badejo. It lays out the obligations of the transitional government and the international community in their dealings with each other.

"This signing today represents an important development in which the TFG met a major requirement of donor community for support," Badejo told IRIN.

"The intention of the declaration is to set goalposts by which the government’s progress will be judged, and to assess the international community’s fulfilment of its own obligations to the government," Bethuel Kiplagat, Kenya’s special envoy for the Somali peace process, told IRIN.

Expressing optimism about the future of Somalia, Kiplagat added: "Problems can and will happen, but as long as the Somali government puts down firm roots, it will be able to weather these problems."

At an African Union (AU) summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in late January the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the AU both pledged to deploy peace support missions to Somalia to facilitate the peaceful relocation of the government.

Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda have committed themselves to supporting a peace mission for Somalia by providing troops or equipment to an IGAD force.

Gedi also confirmed that Mogadishu would continue be the Somali capital and seat of government once the relocation was complete.

Somalia's transitional federal parliament elected Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as president on 10 October 2004, bringing to an end a two-year reconciliation process sponsored by IGAD. He in turn appointed Gedi, who later named a cabinet.

Since then, the new government, which includes several faction leaders, has remained in Nairobi, citing security considerations. However, it has come under pressure from Kenya’s government and western diplomats to move to Mogadishu.

Last week, the new cabinet approved the deployment of 5,000 to 7,000 foreign troops to help restore law and order in the country. A team of MPs also arrived in Mogadishu to assess the situation.