Somalia, 2002

Allow me at the outset

to congratulate you, Sir, on your election as President

of the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly. I

am confident that with your experience you will guide

this session to a fruitful conclusion. I would also like to

extend my thanks to your predecessor, Ambassador

Han Seung-soo of South Korea, for his excellent

stewardship of the previous session of the General

Assembly.

Somalia welcomes the Democratic Republic of

East Timor and the Swiss Confederation to the

membership of this family of nations. This is a further

step towards the realization of the goal of the

universality of the United Nations Organization.

A year after the tragic events of 11 September

2001, we in Somalia continue to share the feelings of

pain and loss of the Government and the people of the

United States. We must, as a community of nations, act

in unison to combat the scourge of terrorism.

In this regard, the Transitional National

Government of Somalia continues to be a reliable

partner in the campaign against terrorism. It is my

privilege to announce to the Assembly that my

Government this year signed the Convention for the

Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

We have also started the process of acceding to

the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of

Terrorism of the African Union. We are also working

on the implementation of the other requirements of

resolution 1373 (2001). Furthermore, we are committed

to fully cooperating with other countries on a bilateral

basis in the fight against terrorism and continue to

identify concrete areas of such cooperation. My

Government's resolve in this regard is not based on any

short-term tactical considerations but is unequivocal

and based on solid principles.

We would like to commend the United Nations

for organizing a number of international conferences in

2002, starting with the International Conference on

Financing for Development and the recent World

Summit on Sustainable Development, held in

Johannesburg, South Africa. We also applaud the

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United Nations for dedicating a day of discussions on

the New Partnership for Africa's Development

(NEPAD), which focused on the development needs of

the African continent.

We strongly feel that the international community

should pay more attention to the development needs of

the least developed countries. Donors and creditors

should be able to do much more in the areas of trade,

debt and aid. We believe that free and fair trade is a

vehicle for growth and development, and that thus we

are required to make greater efforts to ensure that

multilateral trading caters to the urgent and special

needs of the least developed countries.

In this regard, we are encouraged by Canada's

unilateral decision to lift tariffs on African exports to

Canada and to abolish subsidies on agricultural

products. It is our hope that other developed countries

will follow the example set by Canada.

With regard to debt, we believe that, unless the

massive debts owed by the least developed countries

are completely cancelled, those countries will remain

strangled by interest and loan principal payments.

Aid can be another engine for development and

growth and, in this respect, the donors must honour the

agreed target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product

for official development assistance.

We cannot but address the plight of the

Palestinian people, who are subjected to daily horrors.

The killing of innocent civilians, including women and

children, the destruction of houses and the daily

humiliations inflicted upon the Palestinian people by

Israel must be condemned by the international

community.

It is unconscionable for the international

community to stand idly by and watch the continuous

siege of President Yasser Arafat and the premeditated

destruction of the Palestinian Authority. The people of

Palestine, who continue to suffer under the Israeli

occupation, have an inalienable right to a State of their

own and to choose their own leadership and

institutions. The systematic violation of the

fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people

must be brought to an end.

The scourge of conflicts has been afflicting the

African continent for decades. In fact, Africa at one

time was dubbed the “continent of conflict”. It is

gratifying to note that there is a new horizon — that a

new dawn is illuminating the darker parts of our

continent in conflict. Conflict resolution by Africans

themselves is the motto today. A strong wind of peace

is blowing in Africa. In Sierra Leone and Liberia in the

Mano river region; in Angola; in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi in the

Great Lakes region; and in Ethiopia, Eritrea and the

Sudan in the Horn of Africa, the ship of peace is

sailing. We strongly welcome this movement towards

peace in the African continent.

As members are aware, Somalia has been an area

of a conflict, a conflict that brought untold suffering to

the people of Somalia, a disastrous civil war fomented

by unpatriotic warlords, resulting in the destruction of

all State institutions, the death of hundreds of

thousands of Somalis and the displacement of millions.

Despite the good intentions of the United Nations,

Somalia suffered from the neglect of the international

community, especially after 1993. The Somali conflict

seemed intractable.

It was not until August 2000 that a Transitional

National Government and a Transitional National

Assembly were constituted and a head of State, His

Excellency Mr. Abdikassim Salad Hassan, was elected.

That was a result of a conference held in Arta, in the

Republic of Djibouti, attended by more than 3,000

Somalis from all regions and all walks of life,

including traditional leaders, intellectuals, business

persons and women. The warlords were repeatedly

invited and opted not to participate.

The Transitional National Government of

Somalia has continued to engage in dialogue those who

choose to be outside the Arta process, with a view to

bringing them on board. We have been persistent in

encouraging them to renounce war as a means of

achieving political gains, and we share our vision of

peace and national reconciliation in Somalia and for

the Somali people.

In our endeavours to achieve peace and stability

in Somalia, we have also engaged our brothers

elsewhere in the subregion, regional organizations and

the United Nations, to assist us in the search for

durable peace in Somalia.

I am happy to note that the Intergovernmental

Authority on Development (IGAD), with the strong

support of the international community, has undertaken

a serious peace initiative for Somalia. IGAD has

mandated the three frontline States of Kenya, Djibouti

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and Ethiopia, under the chairmanship of His

Excellency President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, to

work out the modalities and time frames for completing

the Arta peace process. This has the support of the

current Chairman of IGAD, His Excellency Mr. Omer

Al-Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, and the

heads of State of other IGAD countries. The IGAD

process for the completion of the Arta process has

streamlined the various and often conflicting initiatives

for the first time.

IGAD has announced that a conference for the

completion of the reconciliation process will be held in

Kenya on 15 October 2002. The Transitional National

Government will participate. We will participate with

an open mind and with the interest of the Somali

people as our foremost priority. The Transitional

National Government will spare no effort to make the

national reconciliation conference a success. We are

gratified that the international community has

recognized that the Arta peace process continues to be

the most viable basis for peace and national

reconciliation in Somalia. It is our hope that those

regional administrations and other parties that have

been outside the Arta process will share our vision for

peace and stability in Somalia.

In this regard, it is of critical importance that the

international community send a clear message to all the

Somali participants to support the IGAD-sponsored

conference in Kenya, making clear that those who try

to sabotage it or refuse to participate will be sanctioned

by the international community.

Equally important is the issue of guarantees for

the outcome of the reconciliation conference. We

believe and request that the international community

should put in place regional and international measures

guaranteeing both the finality and the legality of the

outcome of the conference in Kenya. The international

and regional guarantees must ensure that sanctions will

be imposed on any Somali group that rejects the

outcome of the reconciliation conference in Kenya.

When the Somali parties agree on a peace

framework during the October conference in Kenya,

there will be an urgent need for international

peacekeepers. There will also be an urgent need for

disarmament and for the rebuilding of national

institutions in Somalia. We urge the United Nations to

be ready for this and to plan to meet the new

challenges of disarmament, the demobilization of

militias and reconstruction.

The wind of peace that is blowing across the

African continent has finally reached Somalia. As the

Transitional National Government, we are committed

to the re-emergence of a new Somalia that is at peace

with itself, its neighbours and the world. As a law-

abiding State, we pledge to respect our obligations

under the United Nations Charter and the Constitutive

Act of the African Union and to remain a partner for

peace and development in our continent and throughout

the world.