Mr President Members of the Council, Thank you very much for this opportunity to brief the Security Council for the first time since assuming my appointment as SRSG for Somalia. I am particularly glad to be here today with Ambassador Annadif of the African Union, representing our close collaboration as we discharge our two mandates from this Council. This is a good time for some stock-taking on Somalia, one year after the new Federal Government was established, and 90 days after the establishment of UNSOM. Mr. President, Before going into some detail on political and security issues, let me start by answering the question all SRSGs probably hear the most : “Are you optimistic?” The answer in my case is a resounding “yes”. Behind the twists and turns, the crises and the standoffs, Somalia has the foundations for progress: the international community is united behind a credible, legitimate federal government; there are resources available to meet the most immediate needs; there is the political will to compromise and manage disputes without resorting to violence. And the Somali people I have met are tired of war and deprivation, fed up with brinkmanship and predatory politics. The heart of the political challenge is simple to describe, even if rather difficult to solve. After 22 years of conflict, power and control of resources and revenue have fragmented. The strong centralist state has ceased to exist. Different regions and different people now hold different bits of power. That’s why Somalis have decided a federal model is the only system that will work in this new reality. The task now is to reconcile and agree amongst themselves exactly how federalism will work in practice. How will they share power, revenue, resources and responsibilities in a way that benefits all Somalia? These are difficult issues. But ones which need political solutions. That is why in the first three months, I have prioritized the need for progress on the constitutional review and constructive engagement with the regions; travelling to Puntland, Somaliland and engaging closely on the Jubba question. Mr President, If a week is a long time in politics, the ninety days of UNSOM in Somalia is an age. Allow me to brief you on a number of important recent developments since the SG’s report. The situation in the Jubba regions was one of the most serious issues to face the Federal Government. In early June, the risks were very high of a collapse in security and political stalemate in Kismayo, as well as between the Jubba parties and Mogadishu. However, an agreement was finally reached on 28 August in Addis Ababa, under the active mediation of Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr Tedros Andhanom on behalf of IGAD, which set out interim governance, security and economic arrangements. I supported the negotiations in the closing stages and attended the signing ceremony in Addis. Some outstanding issues still remain and implementation will require goodwill from all parties and significant support. UNSOM, I’m glad to say, has established a presence in Kismayo to ensure it is able to help as required across all areas of its mandate, working closely with the African Union. We are concerned to hear of the attack today on the convoy of the interim leader of the Jubba Administration, and I have called for calm and restraint from all sides. To the north, the relationship between “Somaliland” and Somalia remains sensitive and fragile. Nevertheless, there is progress to report. With the mediation of Turkey, the two parties have had two sessions of talks this year. The agreement on shared management of airspace could be a model for other areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. We urge both sides to focus on solutions, however modest, not problems. The presence of UNSOM in “Somaliland” is still on hold at the request of the local authorities who do not accept that UNSOM has a mandate in “Somaliland”. I remain committed to finding a way to break this impasse. I am also offering my good offices to Puntland for its internal political processes and to assist in confidence-building between the Puntland administration and the Federal Government. I am again working closely with the Chair of the IGAD Council on this. Mr. President, One of the key tasks facing Somalia is the agreement of a final Federal Constitution. The UN is supporting a broad process of popular consultations which should clarify several key areas that remain contentious. A long, hard process of consultation and negotiation lies ahead, which we shall support. On 2 September, UNSOM backed the launch of a national political conference, entitled Vision 2016, at which the President of Somalia restated his commitment to a new constitution and elections by 2016. In less than a week from today, another key building block of Somalia’s stabilisation will be put in place. Some 200 delegates will gather in Brussels on Monday, hosted jointly by the EU and the Federal Government. The New Deal Compact is a Somali-led and Somali-owned set of priorities, milestones to achieve them, and an architecture for international support to Somalia, coordination and funding. In Brussels, the Somali Government and the international community will endorse the Compact to confirm mutual commitment to these priorities and how to meet them. The true test of the Compact will be in how it makes a difference in peoples’ daily lives, The UN in Somalia will play its part to the full, especially in assisting the government to coordinate international assistance. I thank the EU for their key role in this process and continue to work closely with them in this and other areas of our support to Somalia in general. I hope that we will see real commitment from partners, especially to the new financial and coordination mechanisms that are being proposed. So on the political front, there is progress. Parliament has shown itself to be a key driver. But there is no room for complacency. There is still time to agree a new constitution through an inclusive process, vote on it and then hold free and fair elections in Somalia. But it is a big hill to climb and we all need to pick up the pace.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 09:03:43 +0000
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