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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Sep 13 2010 - 15:30:59 EDT
UN and partners issue joint call for cohesion among Somalia's leaders
http://www.un.org/News/dh/photos/2010/110415-mahiga.jpg
Ambassador Augustine Mahiga, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special
Representative for Somalia
13 September 2010 - Fractures in Somalia's leadership could potentially be
extremely damaging to a country long ravaged by war, misrule and
humanitarian suffering, the United Nations and its partners cautioned today,
urging the heads of the nation's Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) to
maintain a united front.
Augustine Mahiga, the Special Representative of Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon; Boubacar Diarra, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of
the African Union Commission for Somalia; and Kipruto Arap Kirwa, Somalia
Facilitator for the InterGovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD),
issued their joint statement following a meeting with Somali President
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed in Mogadishu last week.
"Many members of the international community have worked tirelessly to
support the current administration and we know they join us in calling for
the leadership of the TFIs to remain cohesive and focused on security and
transitional tasks at such a critical time," they said.
Somalia's transition phase ends next August, giving the current Government
less than a year to wrap up its remaining priority tasks.
"The end of the transition period will give Somalis the opportunity to
determine a new political dispensation, but there is much work to be done
before then," the envoys said. "There is no time to waste."
Those who stand to gain the most from the current divisions are the
extremists trying to take control of Somalia, they stressed, underlining the
need for internal cohesion to foster peace and stability. The country has
not had a functioning national government since 1991.
Somali troops and peacekeepers serving with the AU's peacekeeping mission
(AMISOM) risk their lives daily to protect the TFIs and "to defend the
integrity of the peace process," the statement said.
"The leaders and politicians need to demonstrate their unity of purpose to
show they are working together to restore peace to Somalia."
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