Somalia, 2010

On the

grand occasion of the general debate of the sixty-fifth

session of the General Assembly, I congratulate the

new President of the Assembly, Mr. Joseph Deiss, who

is known for his political skills and wise leadership. I

would also like to extend my appreciation to his

predecessor, Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of

the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session, for

the able manner in which he led our work. I hope this

session will end successfully and produce

recommendations and resolutions that will serve

humanity and the world at large.

I further thank the Secretary-General for his

strong and genuine interest in and commitment to

addressing the critical international issues facing the

world, and Somalia in particular.

This annual gathering brings together world

leaders and their representatives in order to highlight

positive and praiseworthy accomplishments and

developments, and to identify common global

challenges, emerging problems and their causes, and

consequently to discuss and seek appropriate solutions

for them.

This meeting comes at a critical moment, when

our contemporary world faces a series of challenges

ranging from economic crises to natural disasters and

bloody wars that threaten international peace and

stability, as well as other international issues that

require timely resolutions and serious work from the

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General Assembly to design strategies to avoid them in

the future.

In our world today, known for its technological

advancement and modern science, we are confronted

by many challenges resulting from climate change,

global warming and their effects, such as devastating

floods, drought, forest fires, landslides, desertification,

earthquakes, snow storms and so on. Such

environmental problems have occurred recently in

many countries, including the violent floods in

Pakistan and China and the destructive forest fires in

Russia, alongside other problems worldwide. We feel

great compassion for the countries affected by these

natural disasters, and we must cooperate with and

provide them the assistance they need while we express

our grief and condolences for their suffering.

A few centuries ago, the peoples of the world

suffered from the horror of colonial slavery, injustice

and oppressive cultures in which the strong preyed on

the weak, as well as from horrific wars that spared

nothing. It was through the collective will of victorious

nations around the world that this fine institution was

established in 1945 in order to ensure lasting peace and

security and to protect human rights, the sovereignty of

nations and the rights of people to self-determination,

as well as justice, freedom of thought and expression.

However, 65 years since its inception, we must

ask ourselves whether the world is more secure or

nations are more at peace with one another. Has

humankind attained its ambition of a good life,

development and sustainable prosperity? The answer,

clearly, is no. We see destructive wars being fought

throughout the world, causing the suffering of millions,

as well as the horrors of global terrorism, especially in

the developing world.

Somalia is the weaker link in this scenario and

therefore suffers from the worst kinds of international

terrorism perpetrated, inter alia, by Al-Shabaab,

Al-Qaida and the foreign criminal elements supporting

them. Al-Qaida boasted of its responsibility for the

horrible acts that occurred in Mogadishu on

3 December 2009 at the Benadir University graduation

ceremony, where many graduating doctors died at a

time when the country needed them most. Professors,

ministers, families and guests also died at that

ceremony.

Other heinous acts include the explosion at the

Muna Hotel, the African Union headquarters in

Mogadishu, as well as the explosion in Kampala,

Uganda, which killed over 70 innocent people who had

come to watch the World Cup match that was then

taking place in South Africa.

These beastly massacres carried out by

Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaida terrorists turn the stomach of

any person with a conscience. This movement carries

out such acts in Mogadishu and other Somali cities on

a daily basis, in plain public sight and in places of

worship, killing Somali civilians, hacking off their

limbs, hands and ears and cutting their throats. It has

also carried out unspeakable crimes against humanity,

such as cutting off the heads of victims and disposing

of them somewhere else. It has also committed rape

and theft and caused great damage to property.

This movement does not believe in Somalia as a

nation and does not support the creation of a national

Government in Somalia; rather, it seeks to establish the

Horn of Africa as a terrorist hub that is managed by its

Al-Qaida partners and whose intention is to wreak

havoc on the entire region and the world beyond.

Besides terrorism on land, another type of

terrorism — piracy, perpetrated by pirates and

extremist movements in the Red Sea and the Indian

Ocean — threatens navigation and sea trade. Maritime

terrorism is no less dangerous than land-based

terrorism; many United Nations Member States have

had their ships hijacked by pirates who attack merchant

or passenger vessels and then blackmail them and

demand millions in ransom. While military convoys

attempt to protect shipping in the Indian Ocean, they

are unable to uproot this ongoing threat or eliminate its

root causes.

There is a close connection between those pirates

and armed extremist elements in Somalia. Such ships

can be destroyed at any time and their crews killed

rather than be held for ransom. All of this, again,

requires a solution to the problems in Somalia, because

the root causes of these problems lie not at sea but on

land. No partial solution to the problems of Somalia

can succeed no matter how strong and effective it is;

only a comprehensive solution of these problems will

work.

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I would also like to draw attention to a

phenomenon even more dangerous to the Somalis in

the long term than piracy. This is illegal fishing and the

dumping of toxic waste along the Somali coast, which

harm the health of Somalia’s citizens and its

environment. We have already begun to see symptoms

and illnesses that did not previously exist in Somalia.

One function of the General Assembly is to deal

with hotbeds of tension and threats to international

peace and security. I therefore appeal to world leaders

to stand together in confronting the threat of

international terrorism, including Al-Qaida and

Al-Shabaab, as well as organized crime. We must

eliminate this scourge so that it will not expand and

worsen, and bear in mind that any delay or compromise

will provide further opportunities for terrorism,

prolong its life and allow it to spread. Beyond this, we

need to solve the political, economic and social root

causes of terrorism locally, regionally and

internationally.

After many years of dispute and conflict, the

Somali parties met in Djibouti and reached an

agreement, endorsed by the international community,

that led to the creation of a broad-based national

Government that included all the conflicting parties

who participated in the Djibouti peace conference. This

Government has inherited a heavy burden and many

challenges and obstacles, but it has managed to

shoulder those responsibilities. However, it continues

to wage a bitter struggle against such hostile elements

as Al-Qaida and its allies, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul

Islam.

Here, we should note that the Transitional Federal

Government (TFG), while only in its second year, has

managed to counter and repel these enemy attacks and

to achieve reconciliation and several agreements with

members of Hizbul Islam and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a.

Thus the TFG has achieved some success in its goals,

especially following its recent ministerial change,

which brought in members of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a,

who have been assigned important ministerial positions

in the new Government. I note that the national

reconciliation achieved in Djibouti remains a strategic

choice for us, and we reach out to all those who desire

peace and security in Somalia.

We have also formed strategic plans in the areas

of politics, security and social reform. We must

produce a public budget for 2010 that covers

economic, political and social affairs and State

management expenses, as well as reconstruction. We

must rehabilitate Government ministries and

institutions and economic structures, such as the

central bank, and encourage a free-market economy.

We must provide food and humanitarian assistance to

the needy and those displaced by river floodings,

drought or desertification. This plan has been

particularly difficult to implement because the

Al-Shabaab movement has blocked the distribution of

humanitarian aid and food to the areas it controls, and

has raided and stolen from aid organizations and

hijacked vehicles carrying food intended for the

hungry.

We must further create opportunities to empower

young people to play leadership roles, and furnish them

with the skills necessary to manage Government

institutions. We need to increase the skills and abilities

of Government employees and foster a spirit of

sacrifice for the homeland and devotion to work and

transparency in conducting the country’s business. We

must build capacity in the security sector and train

police and security forces to protect the Somali people

and their independence and territorial integrity. We

need to prepare a permanent constitution that can serve

as the foundation for law, democracy and the guarantee

of basic human freedoms. The constitution will be

submitted for a referendum so that it can be applied as

soon as possible. We must revitalize our judicial

institutions and train judges and legal assistants, as

well as reconstruct and rehabilitate support centres

such as police stations, criminal courts and prisons. We

should create an environment conducive to dialogue,

reconciliation, negotiation and collective work, and

halt the continuing violence in Somalia, which has

lasted more than two decades now, so that peace and

security can be restored. Finally, we must end the

internal disputes that continue to erupt within our

national institutions — for instance, among members

of Parliament — and resolve them peacefully.

These are but a few of the issues that we have

selected from among the many on which our strategic

plans are focused. However, a shortage of funds,

resources and expertise hinders the TFG from

implementing many of them. From this rostrum, I

appeal to the world’s leaders and the international

community to continue to come forward to help us stop

the bloodshed in Somalia and to provide us with the

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emergency assistance necessary to save our citizens

and Government, especially in the following areas.

First, in the field of security, the Somali security

forces need to be armed and trained in an effective way

so that they are capable of taking the security initiative

in their country, and provided with the salaries and

health care they need if they are to protect citizens and

establish Government authority throughout the country.

Second, the African Union forces in Somalia

must be strengthened and reinforced by the addition of

new forces.

Third, a military strategy must be designed and

implemented by the United Nations, including the

dispatch of an international force to Somalia with the

purpose of restoring security and stability throughout

the country.

Fourth, the Security Council should adopt

resolutions aimed at saving Somalia and liberating it

from Al-Qaida and any other terrorist movements that

conspire against the restoration of peace and security

there. On the political front, we would also ask for

continued United Nations support for the TFG,

allowing it to remain a focal point for reconciliation

between the various parties in Somalia and the

international community. The TFG should also be

given the support it needs to discharge its duties and

manage its budget, so that it can stand on its own two

feet and carry out its economic projects and extend its

authority throughout the country.

Fifth, the Somali Government should be assisted

in rebuilding the infrastructure that was destroyed in

the civil wars.

Sixth, the international community should

participate and assist in the reconstruction and

rehabilitation of Somali State institutions, such as

schools, hospitals and educational centres.

Seventh, the Somali economy must be promoted

and its faltering institutions developed.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the

international community for its assiduous efforts to

restore peace and stability in Somalia. Nevertheless, I

would like to point out that all that has been offered to

date is still not commensurate with what Somalia

deserves. Somalia is a country that has lost everything,

including its State infrastructure. We hope that the

international community will assume its humanitarian

responsibility towards our country and assist in ending

its suffering, which has now entered its twenty-first

year. It is also our hope that the international

community will fulfil its promises and turn its

resolutions and recommendations — past and

present — into actual, implementable deeds.

I would especially like to thank the Governments

of Uganda and Burundi, which have sent their troops to

Somalia to bring peace to the situation there. I would

also like to thank the Governments of the United States

of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain

and Northern Ireland, the European Union and the

brotherly Arab States, as well as the African Union, all

of which have contributed to security and stability in

my country. Our thanks also go to the international and

regional organizations, including the United Nations,

for their support. We hope that we will all succeed in

restoring security and stability very soon because the

continued suffering of the Somali people is

unacceptable.

In conclusion, I pray to God that the efforts of

this session of the General Assembly will be crowned

with success and that Somalia will attend the next

session having resolved its chronic crisis.