PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF SOMALIA

      Somali Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galayr said today that his country would like a United Nations peace-building mission to help in the demobilization process of militia groups, because it did not have the necessary resources to tackle the problem alone.

He told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference:  “We are not talking about large numbers of peacekeeping forces.  What we want is a presence of the United Nations and we want to work in tandem with them particularly in this area of demobilization and reintegration of these militias into society.” He added that he had made this proposal to the Security Council and had also asked for United Nations help in establishing a functioning and effective parliament, government and judiciary.  He had also briefed the Council on his country’s requirements for humanitarian reconstruction.

In addition, Mr. Galayr said he had discussed what he described as the serious issue of Ethiopia’s efforts to destabilize the Transitional National Assembly, which was formed in August last year after peace negotiations in Djibouti, and said that his country would like the arms embargo against Ethiopia to continue.

“We feel that if weapons come to Ethiopia, they will find their way to Somalia”, he said.  We feel that sanctions against the importation of arms to the region are going to be an essential ingredient in the search for peace in the Horn.”

He accused Ethiopia of occupying Somali territory and supplying arms and logistics support to groups who were opposed to the transitional government and were actively involved in the creation of an administrative area called the South West State.  He said that, despite efforts by his government to reassure Ethiopia’s concerns about “Islamic fundamentalists”, the State had continued activities that undermined his government.

He pleaded with Ethiopia to stop those activities and further added that there would be no winners in the present situation.  He said:  “We want the peoples of the Horn, whether they are Somalis, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Djiboutians or Sudanese to live in peace with each other.”

Somalia has not had a central government since 1991.  The Transitional National Assembly, the Somali interim government led by President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, was formed in August 2000 following peace negotiations in Djibouti.  United Nations troops pulled out of the country in 1995.

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