Somali govt votes to move to Mogadishu

BAIDOA, Somalia, Mar 12 (Reuters) Somalia's interim government voted overwhelmingly today to move to Mogadishu, two months after neighbouring Ethiopia's military helped it rout a rival Islamic movement from the volatile coastal capital.

The administration is desperate to impose its authority on the whole Horn of Africa country after being confined to the south central town of Baidoa since its creation in 2004. But near-daily insurgent attacks in Mogadishu have delayed the move.

''A motion to move the government to Mogadishu has passed today in Baidoa after 171 members of parliament (MPs) voted in favour of it, while nine opposed and 10 abstained,'' MP Abdi Abdulle Said told Reuters after the ballot.

It was not immediately clear when the move would take place.

Yesterday, the government's deputy defence minister, Salad Ali Jele, pledged to pacify the capital within a month using newly trained security forces to tackle insurgents who have targeted peacekeepers, the government and its Ethiopian allies.

The Ethiopians are to make way for African Union troops who began arriving in Mogadishu last week. More than 1,000 Ugandans have landed -- and been attacked in at least two assaults by guerrillas, thought to include defeated Islamist fighters.

In Baidoa on Monday, President Abdullahi Yusuf told parliament his government was making advanced preparations for a long-awaited national reconciliation conference.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi would travel to Kenya soon to meet donors and seek funds for the meeting, Yusuf added.

He gave no other details.

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