Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi ended his "exile" in neighboring Kenya on Saturday, returning to Somalia to set up his government on home soil.

Speaking hours before his departure, Gedi said he will be going to the town of Jowhar as a show of the government's resolve to return to the war-town Horn of Africa nation.

"I am leaving Kenya today for Jowhar where I expect to receive President Abdullahi Yusuf very soon to start stabilizing Somalia," Gedi told reporters in Nairobi.

The towns of Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu, and Baidoa, 240 km southwest of the capital, are the two Somali towns to which the interim government wants to relocate temporarily, until Mogadishu is pacified and secured.

Gedi appealed to the United Nations to expedite the lifting of the arms embargo to Somalia to give way for deployment of the African Union stabilization force to the chaotic nation.

"We have contacted United Nations Security Council and other relevant bodies to lift the embargo so that regional states can deploy peacekeepers in Somalia," he said.

The prime minister, who has been in the relative safety of Kenya since the formation of his government late last year, said the peace mission would ensure an early stabilization of the country and the security to enable the transitional federal institutions to get a foothold there when it relocates from exile in Nairobi.

He noted that the commitment of the hosting nation, Kenya, and the international community, has enabled Somalia to overcome many challenges and successfully install the fledgling government.

Relocating without foreign peacekeepers, the interim government fears the militia rule in Somalia will prevent ministers and their teams from carrying out their work in safety, free from violence, corruption and extortion.

Ministers from the regional grouping, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which facilitated the two-year reconciliation process, said the African Union troops were ready to deploy but had been stopped by lack of funds and the UN arms embargo.

IGAD is expected to eventually deploy as many as 10,000 troops to assist Yusuf and Gedi and other transitional institutions to operate in Somalia.

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

The transitional government was formed after two years of peace process in Nairobi that brought together factional leaders, elders, civil society representatives, and others to work out how to end almost 15 years of war. It has stayed in Nairobi since its founding.

The relocation process has been delayed several times amid concerns over security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and differences over where the government will be based.

Source: Xinhua