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)
