Somali divisions widen as speaker leaves Kenya

MOGADISHU - Somalia's parliament speaker flew to Mogadishu from Kenya on Sunday to try to install the assembly in the capital, deepening a rift within the government over where the fledgling administration should be based.

The dispute has increased power struggles within President Abdullahi Yusuf's government, which has worked from offices in Kenya since it was formed there at peace talks last year.

Yusuf and his supporters want to base the government outside the lawless capital, which they say is too dangerous.

The government intends to disarm all militias in the anarchic country and establish an effective administration for the first time in 14 years.

Its location is a key security issue for the Horn of Africa, a region long buffeted by Somalia's political turmoil.

The speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, flew to Mogadishu to back his view that the capital should host the government and to protest at a parliamentary vote supervised by Yusuf last week to site the administration in two provincial towns, aides said.

Diplomats said Adan, who took no part in the session, had been humiliated by Yusuf's action.

Somalia collapsed into chaos after the overthrow of military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, and conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of people since then.

Yusuf's bid to restore government is Somalia's 14th such attempt.

- REUTERS