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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Sep 17 2010 - 14:36:17 EDT
Ambassador Rice at U.N. on Humanitarian Situation in Somalia
Long-term security and stability in Somalia is necessary, Rice says
USUN PRESS RELEASE
September 17, 2010
AS DELIVERED
Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the
United Nations, at a Security Council Debate on Somalia, September 16, 2010
Thank you, Mr. President. Let me also thank Special Representative Mahiga
for his comprehensive and very informative briefing and for his active
leadership on behalf of Somalia.
I also want to salute the Foreign Minister of Kenya and the PermRep from
Somalia for their very powerful presentations, which I think, as you could
see, had an impact on all of us as we listened.
The United States, Mr. President, shares the Secretary General's view of the
exceedingly dangerous situation in Somalia. Long term security and
stability in Somalia depend on a stable and effective government. We
continue to support the Djibouti Peace Process, and we call upon the
Transitional Federal Government to focus on completion of the transitional
tasks in the spirit of inclusivity envisioned in the Peace Process. We also
urge the TFG to work out its differences in the interest of the people of
Somalia.
Mr. President, supporting AMISOM is key both to stabilizing Mogadishu and to
advancing the Somali peace process. We welcome and we commend Uganda and
Burundi's increased troop contributions to AMISOM, which now has a force of
nearly 7,000. We salute their sacrifices and we thank the forces and their
governments for their sustained commitment and support. We call on
troop-contributing countries to increase their support to AMISOM so it can
reach its mandated strength. Since AMISOM's deployment in 2007, the United
States has obligated more than $185 million to provide logistics support,
equipment, and pre-deployment training to its forces. We encourage, again,
other nations to step forward with additional bilateral contributions.
The United States recognizes the calls to increase AMISOM troop levels
beyond the current mandated strength and the various proposals to expand UN
assessed funding for AMISOM. We are currently reviewing these proposals and
will give them thorough consideration. We look forward to receiving more
details from the Secretariat, the AU, and AMISOM.
Mr. President, the United States condemns the increased fighting in Somalia.
We also denounce several recent al-Shabaab attacks, including the August 24
attack at the Hotel Muna, the August 30 attack on the Presidential Palace in
Mogadishu, and the September 9 attack on the AMISOM position at the airport,
which left TFG ministers, AMISOM peacekeepers, and innocent civilians dead.
Such incidents demonstrate the need for continued support to AMISOM to
counter groups like al-Shabaab and others that work to destabilize the TFG
and inflict further chaos on the Somali people.
We remain deeply concerned as well about piracy off the coast of Somalia.
Long-term security and stability in Somalia are necessary, as has been
underscored, to address the root causes of piracy, and we anticipate an
active discussion of the linkages between security and development during
the next meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia later this
month. At the same time, we must respond to the immediate challenges that
piracy poses. The United Nations recently published a report on options for
better prosecuting and imprisoning pirates. The United States remains
committed to working together to address piracy off the Somali coast,
including on issues of prosecution and incarceration.
Mr. President, the United States is deeply concerned as well about the
victims of incidences of sexual violence in IDP camps. Deliberately
targeting vulnerable populations undermines stability and exacerbates an
already dire humanitarian situation.
The United States strongly condemns the use of children as well to pursue
violent agendas. We call upon all parties to immediately release all
children within their ranks, to halt child recruitment, and to provide for
the proper reintegration into civilian life of former child soldiers. Let me
say what I have said before, again: the only tolerable number of child
soldiers is zero. The only tolerable amount of sexual violence is zero
Today's briefing also underscores the extraordinary strains on the
humanitarian situation in Somalia. The UN Food Security and Nutrition
Analysis Unit reports that approximately two million people will need
humanitarian aid between July and December of this year and that thousands
continue to be uprooted and displaced every month. USAID's Famine Early
Warning Systems estimates that approximately a quarter of the Somali
population remains food-insecure and malnutrition rates remain at crisis
levels. Lack of security and stability continue to worsen this already
troubling situation.
The United States remains deeply committed to responding to the ongoing
humanitarian crisis in Somalia. We condemn al-Shabaab's obstruction of aid
delivery to more than a million Somalis. We also strongly condemn targeted
attacks on humanitarian aid workers, kidnappings, and extortion by
al-Shabaab and other violent extremists, which further hamper the provision
of lifesaving humanitarian aid.
Mr. President, in closing, let me reiterate, the United States remains
committed to seeing peace and stability take hold in Somalia - for the sake
of the Somali people and the region. We continue to support the Djibouti
Peace Process, Somalia's transitional federal government and its efforts to
bring security and stability to a country that has already endured far too
much.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Read more:
<http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/September/20100916172432su
7.877094e-02.html?CP.rss=true#ixzz0zoT44VrG>
http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/September/20100916172432su7
.877094e-02.html?CP.rss=true#ixzz0zoT44VrG
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