President Abdullahi Yusuf has told the BBC he is to head south through Somalia from his northern stronghold collecting troops and militia as he goes. He plans to go to the town of Jowhar, which is 90km north of the capital, Mogadishu, and is his preferred temporary base for the new government. | Not quite Sherman's march to the sea, but you work with what you've got. |
The warlords in control of Mogadishu have threatened to attack Jowhar if the president establishes himself there. | "This town ain't big enough for the both of us, and dat one ain't any better." |
Observers say the president's announcement could trigger fighting. | It don't take much, we're talking about Somali here. |
Since President Yusuf left his exiled home in Kenya last month he has been based in Bossaso in his home region of Puntland preparing to venture south to Jowhar. "Without troops no government can work," the president told the BBC's Somali Service.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991 and 13 previous attempts to end the anarchy have failed. The Somali government, which was established in Kenya, has been divided since May, with the speaker of parliament operating from the capital, and the president refusing to move there while it is still under the control of his rivals.
The Mogadishu warlords were named as ministers in Mr Yusuf's cabinet but soon fell out with him, siding with the speaker. Last month, President Yusuf met the speaker, Sharif Hasan Shaykh Adan, in Yemen's capital, but they failed to agree on where the government should be based. |