Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi and the entire cabinet will move base to the capital Mogadishu after the withdrawal of the Union of Islamic Courts which had ruled the city since June, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

"It is not only the prime minister but the entire government, the entire cabinet, members of parliament and assistant ministers. They will go to Mogadishu to organize the population to welcome the Somali forces," Abdirahman Dinari, government spokesman told Xinhua by telephone from Somalia.

"The cabinet and the members of parliament are now in Mogadishu," said Awad Ashareh, a Somali lawmaker and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Information Committee.

"The committee is working on establishing administrative structures for Mogadishu, they have identified local officials and would appoint a governor for Mogadishu," said Ashareh.

Analysts predicted a power vacuum in Mogadishu on Thursday after the Islamic courts abandoned the capital to flee from advancing Somalia government troops.

"The government troops are poised to take over Mogadishu. I can hear sporadic shooting from where I am standing but I do not know from where," a foreign correspondent in Mogadishu told Xinhua on phone.

But the Somali government said calm had returned to Mogadishu and the government had engaged the Somali people in preparations for the grand entry of the Somali troops.

"There is no power vacuum, our forces are already in Mogadishu. The situation is normal. There is no more looting. This morning, the militias were engaged in looting but we have restored calm there," Dinari said.

He said the government was working jointly with the civil society to restore calm in the entire country. The committee was also working on the appointments of civil servants for Mogadishu.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)