NAIROBI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Somali lawmakers have voted to relocate the transitional government to the capital, Mogadishu.

    Awad Ashara, a Somali lawmaker, said on Tuesday that some 170 members of parliament voted Monday for the ministers to relocate starting next week, at a session in the provincial town of Baidoa,the current seat of the government.

    "We voted on Monday for the cabinet ministers to relocate to Mogadishu next week. They will have to fix the date and this would depend the government's ability to stabilize the capital which has been unsafe of late," Ashara told Xinhua by telephone from Baidoa.

    "I think the government will have to relocate after the African Union has deployed peacekeepers in Mogadishu," he added.

    The move comes a week after Ugandan troops took control of the airport in Mogadishu from Ethiopian forces. The Ugandans are the first part of an 8,000-strong African Union force to provide security and train the army.

    Dozens of people have been killed during insurgent attacks since the Islamists were ousted from Mogadishu.

    The Ethiopian-backed transitional government has been fighting an insurgency since they defeated the powerful Islamist movement, which used to control south and central Somalia.

    Somalia has not had an effective government for 16 years and is awash with weapons.

    The AU mission will however not be involved in the disarmament process.