S/PV.6221
6221st meeting
Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 10.20 a.m.
New York
The situation in Somalia
Mr. Dabbashi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): At the outset, I would like to express our appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, for his briefing. We would also like to commend the significant and ongoing efforts that he and his team have been making to bring about security, peace and stability in Somalia.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia continues to threaten the security and safety of international navigation off the coast of eastern Africa. Efforts thus far have not managed to eliminate the threat, although they have greatly limited piracy. That reaffirms that piracy is a natural result of the unstable situation in Somalia in terms of security and the absence of State authority in general.
This problem will not be eliminated just by dispatching naval forces. Dealing with it requires a more comprehensive and integrated approach. We share the Secretary-General’s view that one of the means to guarantee the security of marine navigation off the coast of Somalia in the long term will be to achieve stability on the ground through development, promotion of economic revival in local communities, consolidation of the rule of law, development of security institutions and provision of support to the Transitional Federal Government and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Any solution must also include capacity-building, especially for Somali judicial and maritime institutions at the local and national levels and in the region in general, the prosecution of those suspected of piracy and armed robbery at sea and strict compliance with the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council.
If implemented, those measures will eventually obviate the need for the international marine presence, which is currently playing an important role in securing international marine navigation. We would like to encourage the States and organizations that participate in those forces to examine a way to implement capacity-building measures in Somalia and find a solution to the root causes of piracy. We urge those States to protect Somali sea resources, in particular from illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels, which we believe are one of the main motives for piracy.
In addition, we encourage the international community to continue to deploy such naval forces in strict compliance with the international law of the sea in order to offer protection to all shipments contracted by the United Nations and the World Food Programme, including along the routes used to deliver logistical support to AMISOM and international maritime trade routes.
We believe that suspected pirates apprehended off the Somali coast must be handed over to the Government of Somalia, which is responsible for prosecuting them. We urge the international community to help the Government of Somalia by providing technical assistance to its judicial bodies. In that connection, we encourage Member States to contribute to the international trust fund designed to help defray the expenses associated with the prosecution of suspected pirates as well as other activities related to combating piracy. The Government of Somalia can sign agreements with other countries in the region providing for the prosecution of suspects apprehended in those countries and specify where they will serve their sentences if found guilty.
In closing, we wish to stress that providing support to the Government of Somalia to help it establish its authority throughout the country is of the utmost importance if our efforts to combat piracy and eliminate its root causes are to be successful. We also wish to encourage the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia to coordinate its activities and initiatives with those of the International Contact Group on Somalia. In addition, we note the urgent need to draft an agreement that would protect Somalia’s sea resources from arbitrary use and would prevent pirates from launching attacks on navigation in international waters.
