PM to go to Mogadishu for consultations

Somali Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi is expected to visit the Somali capital, Mogadishu, within the next few days to consult with members of his cabinet who are based there, an official in his office said.

"The aim of the trip is to dialogue and consult with his cabinet colleagues in the city," Abdirahman Dinari, the government spokesman, said on Wednesday. "His intention is to resolve whatever differences exist with members of his cabinet and members of parliament."

Gedi’s last visit to Mogadishu was marred by an explosion while he was addressing a public rally at a football stadium on 3 May. The blast killed 15 people and injured 50, medical sources said at the time.

In June, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi and their supporters in the transitional federal institutions (TFIs) relocated from Nairobi to the town of Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu. They maintain that Mogadishu must be secured before they can transfer the government there.

About 100 members of the 275-strong Transitional Federal Parliament - led by Speaker Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden - currently are trying to restore stability to the war-scarred capital.

There have been numerous attempts by the international community and the UN to mediate an end to the divisions. In August, François Lonsény Fall, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General to Somalia, presented an "agenda for dialogue" to Somali leaders to help them find a way forward.

Fall welcomed Gedi's decision to go to Mogadishu, which was announced on 15 September. "The international community welcomed the prime minister’s initiative and promised material support for it," said a statement issued by the Nairobi-based UN Political Office for Somalia at the time.

According to Dinari, Gedi is expected to stay in Mogadishu for a "few days" and then return to Jowhar.

Meanwhile, Dinari denounced plans for a meeting of faction leaders to be held in the town of Bal'ad, 60 km south of Jowhar, on 22 September. "This is clearly a provocation that unnecessarily raises tension," he said. "They have met before in other parts of Somalia, why here and now?" he asked.

Among those expected to be at the Bal'ad meeting are former faction leaders and current cabinet ministers such as Commerce Minister Muse Sudi Yalahow, Housing and Public Works Minister Usman Hasan Ali Atto, Religious Affairs Minister Omar Muhammad "Finish" and Col Barre Aden Hirale, minister of Reconstruction and Resettlement. Also expected to attend the meeting are Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade, who controls the important town of Baidoa, and Yusuf Indha'ade, who controls the Lower Shabelle region.

It remains unclear whether or not the former faction leader, who is now the minister for national security, Muhammad Qanyare Afrah, will attend the meeting.

According to a local journalist in Mogadishu, there was a great deal of apprehension in the capital about the movement of militias towards Bal'ad. "People here [in Mogadishu] are worried that massing so many militias and weapons will lead to war," he said. "Any miscalculation by either side could ignite a war nobody wants."

Attempts by some members of parliament and civil society groups to convince the faction leaders to hold their meeting elsewhere, are currently ongoing, the journalist said.