Nairobi — After two years of negotiations in Kenya, Somalia will soon have a government within its borders.

To lead the way in the relocation will be Members of Parliament, former delegates to the peace talks and traditional elders.

Taking into account the turn of events in Mogadishu after the killing of a journalist and attacks on the police, the new government, due to relocate from February 21, cannot take the security of its personnel for granted.

As a sign of the insecurity in Mogadishu, journalist Kate Peyton of the British Broadcasting Corporation was killed at the same hotel where a delegation of Somali MPs visiting the country was residing.

The other event that causes concern is the recent demolition of an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu by radicals who dumped the remains at a garbage site and built a mosque on top of whatever remained of the bodies they could not clear from the cemetery.

These are poignant signals to the world that the radicals mean business. Ms Peyton's killing sent the message that the new government will be safe in Mogadishu.

Says Mr Yusuf Mohamed Ismail "Bari-Bari", President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's spokesman: "We have set a criterion to ensure the safety of our staff."

One of the rules is that the new government will make sure any place they set up offices in is not under control of a militia from another area.

The other criterion is that the local militia and its weapons must be encamped in a special compound outside the area to be occupied by government personnel.

The third is that all public premises, including embassies, must be vacated, while the fourth is that all physical infrastructure such as airports and airstrips and seaports have to be under government control.

Adds Mr Ismail: "We have decided to involve the local community. We don't want to impose anything in our efforts at peace-building, reconciliation and administration building. We will broker peace enhancement if any local dispute is still pending."

To meet its goals, the government of President Yusuf needs $77,347,440 (Sh5.9 billion) for the relocation, the setting up of a new police force and the disbanding of militias and the establishment of regional and district administrations.

Under the new constitution, within the next two and a half years, the federal structures must be in place. This means every district must decide on the formation of the local authority.

Besides districts, there will be the Puntland Regional State that has been run as an autonomous region with its own administration since 1998. But remaining outside the new arrangement will be the north-west region of Somaliland which has opted to secede.

Even though the Somaliland administration refused to take part in the talks, 45 of its residents got seats in the new parliament.

One of the main tasks facing the new government is the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of militias, which will be screened by the government with support from the Africa Union and League of Arab States' peace force.

The whole exercise will be presided over by the coordination and monitoring committee, chaired jointly by the transitional government and the international community.

The army will also be formed almost simultaneously out of the police force and the former soldiers who are still fit.

Elderly officers who have been of good conduct will be awarded pension or promoted to senior positions before they are retired. Says Mr Ismail: We have to boost the morale of every person who deserves it, otherwise we will not be fair to history.

"We are for a new army with new concepts and which is friendly to the people with some civil utility."

However, the signs are that there are major divisions among Somalis on the deployment of a peace force. A group of Muslim clerics say AU troops cannot be deployed because they are not Muslims.

The clerics' view is that the militias, given the right training, can do the job.

When the issue of peace-keepers was put to vote in the Somali cabinet early this month, 63 were for a peace force, while nine were against. Later, Mr Ali Osman Ato, the minister for Works, who voted for the force, said Ethiopians are not welcome.

Meanwhile, a special meeting of defence ministers of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) which steered the peace process is planned. Only Somalia will be on the agenda, with the technicalities of the peace force deployment among the issues to be discussed.

Once it relocates, the new government will issue a new currency guided by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Currently, the Somali shilling exchanges at 10,000 to a dollar. Already, a new governor, Dr Mohamud Mohamed Ulusow has been nominated to run the central bank.

Besides a single currency, Somalia has to tackle the issue of clannism. With no government for 14 years, Somalis have relied on clans and religion for social support. Says Mr Ismail: What is important is to harmonise the modern state concept and the traditional system. We have to learn from the past and prevent further political turmoil. We have to move from clan representation to regional representation and finally, political parties.

Meanwhile, late yesterday, the AU said it will send a fact-finding mission to Somalia today to size up security before a bigger African peace mission, despite threats of a holy war.