PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOMALIA

The best hopes for resolving the crisis in Somalia lay with the resumption of talks between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts, François Lonseny Fall, Special Representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for Somalia, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, after briefing the Security Council on the situation.

He said the third round of the talks, which have been taking place in Khartoum, the Sudan, and have dealt with the key issues of security and power-sharing, had been scheduled for 30 October but had been postponed to mid-December due to “some preconditions of the two parties”.

He said that, pending the third round, “we’ll continue to prepare the ground for the success of this round in mid-December with all the key actors”.  Those would include the Sudan, which was hosting the talks, the United Nations and the rest of the international community.

Mr. Fall said he had also informed the Council today about the military build-up on the ground in the country.  In reply to questions, he said he could not confirm any fighting between the troops of the Islamic Courts and those of Ethiopia.

He also said he could not name the country that had been left unidentified as an illegal supplier of arms in the May report on that issue; he was not privy to the information that would be forthcoming in the next report of the unit that monitors the arms embargo.

In reply to a question about lifting the arms embargo to allow the Transitional Federal Government to train its security forces, Mr. Fall said that the Council was looking carefully at that option with input from the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, which maintains a peacekeeping force in the country.

In response to further questions, Mr. Fall said that one of his greatest concerns was the danger of the Somali crisis spreading throughout the region and, for that reason, he was in frequent contact with all States in the region, urging maximum restraint.

Finally, when asked about contacts between the Speaker of the Transitional Parliament and members of the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, Mr. Fall said such contacts were being monitored and, since the Speaker had led earlier rounds of the Khartoum dialogue, it was safe to assume that the purpose was to assist the resumption of those talks.

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For information media • not an official record