JOWHAR, Somalia : Somalia's exiled president and prime minister arrived here on their first trips home since taking the helm of the lawless country's transitional government last year.

The pair are on separate fact-finding missions to prepare logistics for the relocation of the government, which has been based in Kenya since its formation in October due to security concerns.

President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed arrived by plane from Nairobi around 12:45 p.m. (0945 GMT) in this town north of the capital Mogadishu shortly after Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi and a delegation of senior Somali officials touched down in another aircraft, according to an AFP correspondent on the scene.

Several thousand cheering and dancing Jowhar residents greeted the president's plane, waving Somali flags and posters of the president and prime minister as well as placards, the correspondent said.

"Welcome to your country," said one sign. "The people of Jowhar welcome the transitional federal government," read another. "Long live the president and the prime minister," another said.

Security in Jowhar, part of Gedi's home region, was tight with guns and traffic was banned throughout the municipality for the duration of the visit, the AFP correspondent said.

The eminent visitors had lunch and talks with town officials and elders for a briefing on the way they saw the situation in the troubled country.

Yusuf was expected to travel later to his home region of Puntland in northeast Somalia but was to follow a separate intinerary from Gedi, who was to visit at least three other towns on his five-day tour: Beletuuein, Baidoa and Galkayo.

Neither Yusuf nor Gedi were expected to visit Mogadishu due to the security situation in the capital, officials said.

Gedi had planned to depart from Nairobi on Wednesday but delayed the trip for logistical reasons and no new date for the trip had been announced in advance.

His trip is billed as a "meet-the-people" tour to lobby support for the government ahead of its planned relocation from exile in Kenya which Gedi had said would begin on February 21.

While Somali officials insist the move is under way, neither the president, the premier nor other senior members of the government appear to have immediate plans to permanently base themselves in Somalia.

Somalia has been in chaos without any functioning central authority since the ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 turned the Horn of Africa nation into a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by violent warlords.

To get a foothold in the capital, Gedi's government has requested and received authorization from the African Union (AU) for the deployment of regional peacekeepers.

But their proposed presence has drawn vehement opposition from many Somalis, particularly hardline Islamic clerics in Mogadishu, who are opposed to the presence of any foreign troops in the country.

Previous international attempts to secure peace in Somalia have failed with UN and US forays between 1993 and 1995 ending with their missions being sucked into inter-clan fighting, resulting in the death of about 140 UN peacekeepers, 18 US special forces members and thousands of Somalis.

Just hours after Gedi announced the start date for the relocation on February 9, a BBC journalist in Mogadishu to cover the anticipated arrival of the government was shot and killed in what analysts suspect was a warning against outside intervention.

Last week, an AU delegation in Mogadishu to assess security for the peacekeepers narrowly missed being hit by a roadside bomb explosion that killed two Somalis and wounded five others.

In addition to addressing the security situation, the government has said the speed of its relocation will depend on donors covering an initial six-month budget of about 77.3 million dollars (59.5 million euros).

Only about eight million dollars (6.1 million euros) had been contributed as of mid-February.

Source: AFP, Feb. 24, 2005