From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jan 15 2010 - 06:57:46 EST
Somalia is moving from failed to fragile state
Friday January 15, 2010 MYT 10:48:00 AM
UNITED NATIONS (AP): Somalia is moving "from a failed state to a fragile
state" but the government urgently needs international moral, financial and
diplomatic support to strengthen its control and combat extremists, the top
U.N. envoy said Thursday.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah criticized the international community for failing to
take "effective action" to back the transitional government as it struggles
to confront extremists determined to overthow it by force "either to
maintain a permanent state of anarchy or to establish a military state."
There is no "concrete commitment and a determined international policy
towards Somalia and its present leadership," he told the U.N. Security
Council.
In addition, Ould-Abdallah said the "massive consensus of support for the
government from the international community ... has yet to be translated
into the necessary material assistance."
While donors pledged $213 million for Somalia at a conference in Brussels
last April, he said, "what has been disbursed is too small to have had the
desired impact."
Ould-Abdallah called on the international community "to depart from past
practices of uncoordinated efforts and individual diplomatic initiatives,"
to fully support the government, work more closely with regional
organizations and the African Union, and "address vigorously the role of the
spoilers."
"The government needs to be helped to gradually become more effective in
delivering services to the population and a more able international
partner," he said. "Specifically, the international community should provide
more vigorous moral, diplomatic and financial assistance," Ould-Abdallah
said. "Assistance delayed is assistance denied. In the face of the mounting
danger, sitting on the fence is no longer an option."
He said the Security Council should "encourage or pressurize" the foreign
and domestic extremists to stop supporting violence.
"A clear and effective message, backed by concrete action, would demonstrate
that those who fund the extremists, creating misery for innocent civilians,
violating international laws including the widespread recruitment of child
soldiers and threatening peace and stability in the whole region, will no
longer enjoy impunity," Ould-Abdallah said.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when warlords
overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each
other, plunging the country into chaos and anarchy. The transitional
government, established in 2004, and an undermanned, poorly resourced
African Union peacekeeping force have struggled to defend government
buildings, the port and airport in the capital, Mogadishu against an
offensive by Al-Shabab Islamic extremists and the allied Islamic Party.
"The crisis, which has become more than ever a tough challenge, can no
longer be ignored," Ould-Abdallah said. "Indeed the conflict is no longer
local or even regional. It is global."
Nonetheless, he said the government "has made significant progress, despite
repeated armed assaults to overthrow it by externally funded extremists."
He said the government's recent accomplishments include establishing itself
in the capital, Mogadishu, drawing up a budget for the first time in years,
recruiting and training security forces, and remaining open to all Somalis
who are ready for dialogue and reconciliation.
"After years of conflict the situation in Somalia will not change
overnight," Ould-Abdallah said. "However we are moving from a failed state
to a fragile state."
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