PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOMALIA

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOMALIA

Warring factions in Somalia had to engage in dialogue in order to reach resolution of their impasse and to move the political process forward, François Lonseny Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia said at a press conference at United Nations Headquarters today.  He said there were increasing violations of the United Nations arms embargo to Somalia and there had been an alarming incident of piracy off the coast of Somalia in the past week.

Mr. Fall spoke with correspondents immediately after introducing the Secretary-General’s report on Somalia to the Security Council.

The report underscored the need for members of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) to continue their efforts to implement the peace process they had initiated, the Special Representative said.  The report also described the role the international community was playing to establish peace.

The Security Council had an extensive discussion of the situation and a statement from the Security Council President was anticipated.

Asked by a reporter about the quantity, source, nature and recipients of the arms entering Somalia, the Special Representative referred the questioner to the last report of the monitoring group on Somalia.  He said his mandate was not to catalogue arms, but to confirm that arms shipments into Somalia were increasing.  The arms, which included heavy arms, came from many sources; warlords, who had control of all activities in Somalia, were raising money through these activities to obtain more arms.

Noting that the Somali Ambassador had said yesterday that the international community was neglecting Somalia, a correspondent asked what the international community could reasonably be expected to do.  Mr. Fall said the international community, including IGAD, had done a great deal.  That included IGAD’s initiating a peace process two years ago, and the establishment of a trust fund to assist the peace process and to help the State rebuild.

Asked about the magnitude of the threat of terror, Mr. Fall said that in any failed State, terrorism was a threat.  As such, it was a threat to Somalia, as well as to the whole region.  In response to a question about what extremist groups were growing in Somalia, the Special Representative said there were some Islamic groups and others.

Noting that the Somali Ambassador had made two major requests -- that the international community assist in guarding against incidents of piracy and that the arms embargo be modified so that Somalia could train and develop a police force --- a reporter asked what the Security Council’s response had been to these requests.  Mr. Fall said the Security Council had said it would take some action, which it did not specify, regarding piracy and that exceptions had already been made to the embargo to allow for the police training.  Training was occurring in Uganda and Kenya and there were plans to expand that to Somalia.

Asked his view of the Somali Government and its inability to locate in the capital, Mogadishu, the Special Representative said the Government had been undermined by events, but that, once the peace process progressed, a ceasefire was established and Mogadishu was secure, he looked forward to the Government establishing itself there.

Noting that Ethiopia, Yemen and Eritrea had been shipping arms to Somalia and that two of those countries were members of IGAD, a reporter asked whether IGAD was part of a solution for Somalia or part of its problems.  Mr. Fall said that IGAD was part of the solution because the peace process was initiated and followed up on by IGAD.  The problem of Ethiopia supporting factions in Somalia was the Security Council’s responsibility and it had to find a solution, Mr. Fall added.

In response to a question about how the Somali government and IGAD were handling the issue of Somaliland, Mr. Fall said that IGAD, the Security Council and the Government were not focusing on relations between Somalia and Somaliland now, but would do so once the rest of the country was pacified.

In response to a question, Mr. Fall said he did not know whether there was a relationship between the piracy and Islamist groups and that financing for the pirates had to be investigated.  Questioned further, he said no particular warlord was linked to the piracy incident but that warlords were involved in the piracy.

In response to another question, the Special Representative said that if the situation in Somalia were not resolved, it represented a threat to international peace and security.

Asked whether the assassination attempt on Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was being investigated, the Special Representative said the Somali cabinet had established a commission to be led by the Deputy Prime Minister to investigate the attempt yesterday.  In response to another question, he said that the commission had not asked for international assistance, but that if it did the Security Council would be obligated to help.

In response to a question whether any front-line countries were contributing troops to peacekeeping operations, Mr. Fall said groups in Mogadishu had opposed the inclusion of front-line States in the operations, and the Security Council had asked IGAD and the African Union to come up with an agreement on the composition of the peacekeeping operation (IGASOM) that they were forming.  An agreement had almost been reached and he predicted that the operation would not include front-line States.

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For information media • not an official record