Somali lawmakers want parliament seat relocation

11 Dec 11, 2009 - 1:25:50 PM

A section of Somali lawmakers is proposing the relocation of the country’s parliament to safe towns in Puntland state.

Dahir Abdiqadir Iro, a spokeman for the group in Mogadishu said the security of the restive capital has deteriorated at a point where they can not carry out their duties.

“There are safe places in Somalia like Puntland where we can work from. Since the eruption of the civil strife in 1991, Mogadishu has been marred by rampant insecurity which could not allow us to carry out our work properly,” he told reporters in Mogadishu.

The last time the lawmakers held session was in August, when they passed the state of emergency motion, calling on neighbouring countries to send in troops to defend the country's fragile UN-backed transition government

The embattled Somalia parliament has relocated to the capital Mogadishu from neighbouring Djibouti early this year but has been inefficient due to hostility from insurgents who target it with mortars.

Puntland, a collection of seven Somali regions that declared itself as an autonomous state in 1998, experience relative tranquillity.