The delay in deploying peacekeepers in Somalia by the seven-nation regional body, the Inter- Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is hampering the fledgling Somali government's relocation process, senior officials admitted here.

Divisions among Somalia's political leaders and warlords over where the Horn of Africa nation's administration should be based has complicated the matter further.

While the interim constitution names Mogadishu as the capital, the city is considered the most dangerous place in Somalia.

Some lawmakers including President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi want the government to relocate to Baidoa and Jowhar until Mogadishu is considered safe enough.

There is also disagreement over which countries should be allowed to contribute to a planned peacekeeping force.

The pan-African body, the African Union has authorized IGAD -- which comprises Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda -- to send peacekeepers to Somalia to help the country's transitional government get a foothold there when it relocates from exile in Nairobi.

Somali Prime Minister Gedi who arrived in Kenya on Saturday from a week-long visit to his war-torn country admitted that pacification is needed if his government is to return from exile in Kenya.

"The Somalis need government, they need stability .. law and order to be restored. The strong support of the people is there. We need to implement the law and order and need the forces to implement that activity (relocation)," Gedi told a news conference upon his arrival from Mogadishu.

Gedi who said he had committed himself to relocating to Somali this month, however, noted that this could not succeed without proper disarmament of the militiamen roaming Mogadishu.

While in Somalia, Gedi could not visit several towns including Kismayo, the third largest town in Somalia, due to security reasons after a bomb exploded in Mogadishu killing 9 people.

Some lawmakers told Xinhua on Sunday that efforts are underway in Mogadishu to convince rebel factions to lay down arms and work toward peaceful reconciliation.

Awad Ashara, a member of parliament called on African and Arab states to supply troops to help disarm militiamen in Mogadishu.

"Even though efforts are underway to disarm the militia on the ground, Mogadishu is still not safe for the return of the government. Regional countries which promised to send troops there should do so to help us relocate there. We have stayed in Kenya for too long and we want to go back home," Ashara said.

Foreign ministers in the region said in March that the first deployment of two battalions of IGAD soldiers from Sudan and Uganda could be on the ground by the end of April.

But up to now, the first batch of peacekeepers from Sudan and Uganda has not arrived, owing to logistical bottlenecks.

Last week, Uganda announced the delay in the deployment of a contingent of troops to Somalia, the vanguard as the regional peacekeeping mission there.

"We were supposed to deploy by April 30 but we have to delay a few more days because we have to put together kick-start logistics, " Ugandan army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza said.

"A battalion of 800 men is ready and is doing exercises. We may delay for some days, probably up to a week," he added.

The Sudanese government which had agreed to send some 2,000 troops to Somalia last month has opted to keep silence and it's not known whether the planned deployment will materialize.

IGAD is expected to eventually deploy as many as 10,000 troops to assist Somali transitional institutions to relocate to Somalia.

Specific details of the mission are yet to be released amid a bitter dispute over the composition of the force within the transitional Somali government.

Opposition to the participation of neighboring countries Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya in the force prompted a brawl in the Somali parliament in March.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti have said they would not send troops if they are not welcome.

The IGAD countries have repeatedly announced that it would not let the Somali peace process collapse.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when the administration of Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled.

After two years of stop-start peace talks, the interim Somali government was formed in last December in Nairobi and has stayed here since.

Source: Xinhua