Somalia's interim government is currently operating in the central town of Jowhar, where it will be based until security is restored in the capital Mogadishu, senior government official said here Thursday.

Already 225 lawmakers have left Nairobi for various parts of the lawless country while the entire 275-member parliament is expected in Jowhar for the first time by the end of this month, presidential spokesman Yusuf Mohammed Ismail told a news conference in Nairobi.

"The relocation process is about to finish. Majority of cabinet ministers and lawmakers have already relocated. As of today, 225 lawmakers have left for Mogadishu, Puntland and Jowhar. The remaining few cabinet ministers are on official duties in Kenya," said Ismail, who was flanked by Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua.

He said arrangements are underway to have the entire cabinet move to Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu, by June 30, which will coincide with the Horn of Africa nation's Independence Day.

"Cabinet ministers and lawmakers who are in Mogadishu are heading towards Jowhar in order to welcome President Abdullahi Yusuf back from his official visit to Yemen who is expected back within a few hours or days," the spokesman said.

President Yusuf and parliamentary Speaker Sheikh Sheriff Adan are holding talks in Yemen to resolve disagreements that have split Somalia's fledgling government.

Somali government officials said they are trying to formulate a framework for an agreement on all issues that have split the government.

"We are expecting before the end of this month for the first cabinet meeting for the federal government to be held inside the country," he added.

Somalia had no functional central authority for the 14 years following the collapse in 1991 of the government of Muhammad Siad Barre.

Source: Xinhua