Somalia’s government-in-exile has begun its return to its volatile country by sending teams to the southern part of the country, the prime minister said on Thursday.
Government officials had said they would start relocating on Monday — but such promises have been made and broken before. Asked whether Monday was still the goal, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said: ”It’s already started. Yesterday.”
Gedi, in an interview, added without further elaboration that teams were sent to three southern Somalia towns on Wednesday. Somali officials have been debating whether the government would be able to establish itself in the capital, Mogadishu, or move at least temporarily elsewhere in Somalia.
Gedi said he will go to Somalia next week, something he has said in the past only to postpone his trip. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has not indicated when he plans to return.
Gedi heads a government formed last year that has been meeting in neighbouring Kenya because it considers Somalia too dangerous.
On Thursday he said Arab and African foreign troops were ”a must” if his government is to return and settle down to ”restore law and order”.
”From experience, many governments were formed in the last 14 years and they all failed because of the lack of any military support or stabilisation force,” said Gedi.
”So this time we are committed to carrying out this activity with the international community.”
Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Then they turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7-million into anarchy.
On February 5, Gedi’s Cabinet asked the African Union and Arab League to 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.
Days later, the African Union Peace and Security Council authorised a regional grouping to deploy a peace support mission to Somalia.
Since that announcement Somalis opposed to foreign troops have singled out Ethiopians, partly because of memories of a war Somalia fought with Ethiopia between 1977-1978. This week alone thousands of Somalis have demonstrated in Mogadishu and parts of southern Somalia against plans for foreign troops in Somalia.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Information Minister Bereket Simon said that in spite of opposition to its presence in Somalia, Ethiopia is still committed to sending its troops as part of a regional mission.
Gedi said that the Somali government had received only one offer for troops, which came from Uganda.
Gedi did not say what response he has received since his February 9 request to donors for $77,3-million to finance the government’s relocation plans.
The government had received $7,99-million in contributions and pledges by the time Gedi made his appeal. – Sapa-AP