S/PV.6095
6095th meeting
Friday, 20 March 2009, 10 a.m.
New York
The situation in Somalia
The President (spoke in Arabic): I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
At the outset, I wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, for his valuable briefing. I also wish to thank our brother Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Somalia, for his presence and for the information he provided to us today on the situation in Somalia. I also express our thanks to Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union, for his valuable briefing.
In the past few months, the leaders of the Somali people have affirmed their determination to emerge from the quagmire of the civil war in which that country has been embroiled for the past 18 years. The parliament was expanded, followed by the election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as the new President of the country. A Prime Minister was appointed and a Government was then formed and endorsed by parliament. Those are all positive indicators of the parties’ commitment to the national reconciliation process under the Djibouti agreement. Dialogue among all parties to the conflict in Somalia and the abandonment of policies of exclusion are the only path to a permanent political settlement.
We believe that the desire of President Sharif to communicate with all parties that oppose the Djibouti process, with whatever their various political views, is a first step in the right direction. For our part, we urge all factions of the Somali population to respond to the call of President Sharif and to adopt a spirit of tolerance and overcome the past in order to spread peace and reconciliation throughout the country.
My delegation welcomes the completion of Ethiopia’s full withdrawal from Somalia. We are grateful for the commitment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to continue working under difficult conditions. We urge African Union (AU) member States that have pledged to contribute troops to make the necessary arrangements to deploy them without delay. We also call upon the international community to provide the resources to enable those States to contribute troops to AMISOM. We hope that the United Nations logistical support package for AMISOM will help to apply United Nations criteria with regard to the participating troops.
The security situation in Somalia is of great concern despite the fact that no major combat operations have taken place since the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces. The AU Mission has been targeted by repeated attacks, and armed groups still control several areas of the country. That has had a negative impact on the human rights situation and humanitarian conditions.
On the humanitarian front, the continued deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Somalia continues to be of concern. Over 3 million people require humanitarian aid, and the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues to increase. The IDPs are not expected to return home anytime soon, while armed groups continue to target humanitarian organizations, whether to loot equipment or to abduct or kill workers. On this occasion, I wish to commend the World Food Programme and its personnel for their courage and for their decision to continue providing humanitarian aid in the southern and central areas of Somalia despite the difficult conditions.
On another front, with regard to the encouraging response of the international community in combating piracy off the Somalian coast, we think that piracy is a natural response to the unstable situation in Somalia and cannot be addressed in isolation from the political situation in the country. Combating piracy therefore requires a multidimensional approach based on a political dialogue among all parties, stemming from the Djibouti process and backed by a peacekeeping mission and efforts to revive State institutions and build capacity, in particular relating to law enforcement.
In that regard, we encourage cooperation among States, international organizations and United Nations bodies within the context of international law to combat piracy and we support considering the formulation of a national and regional legal framework to facilitate the arrest and trial of those suspected of committing acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea. We affirm the pivotal role of the United Nations in coordinating the fight against piracy and in providing information, and we urge all Member States to offer information on their efforts to combat piracy.
My delegation welcomes the Secretary-General’s decision to hold a donors conference in the coming days to collect contributions for the AMISOM trust fund and for building the capacity of Somali institutions. We urge all countries that can to contribute generously. We look forward to the report that the Secretary-General will submit by 15 April on the current situation in Somalia and on the progress made in fully deploying the African Union Mission and in expanding it to become a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
The report will discuss political progress and the security situation on the ground so that the Council can use it in its decision on deploying United Nations peacekeeping forces in Somalia. We also believe that the lack of stability and the security situation must not be used as an excuse to oppose the deployment of a United Nations force in Somalia: United Nations experience shows that deploying United Nations forces to unstable areas has proved to be effective in the past.
Once again, my country’s delegation reaffirms its commitment to work towards national reconciliation in Somalia and we assure His Excellency the Foreign Minister — who has informed me that President Sharif may arrive in Libya tomorrow or the day after — that we are in contact with all parties and factions. Libya is the only State that for years has had an embassy in Somalia. We have set up a hospital in Djibouti to treat wounded Somalis and we continue to offer food and medical aid. We have provided hundreds of scholarships to Somali students, the Tripoli University has produced many Somali graduates, including President Sharif. We will continue to offer aid to the Government, including vehicles, administrative tools and equipment, and we will work with the AU and the League of Arab States in that area.
I now resume my functions as President of the Council.
I give the floor to the representative of the Czech Republic.
