I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the statement by the
President of the Security Council of 31 October 2001 (S/PRST/2001/30), in
which the Council requested me to submit quarterly reports on the situation
in Somalia. The report covers developments since my last report, dated 14
March 2008 (S/2008/178 and Corr.1 and 2), and focuses, in particular, on the
ongoing political process between the Transitional Federal Government and
the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS). This report also
provides updates on the security, humanitarian and human rights situations,
including on progress made on certain tasks, as requested by the Council in
its resolution 1814 (2008), and outlines development activities carried out
by United Nations agencies and programmes as well as Somali partners. It
also discusses the status of contingency planning for the possible
deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation.
II. Main developments in Somalia
A. Political developments
2. On 14 March 2008, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia
unveiled its reconciliation strategy, symbolizing the Government’s
commitment to achieving peace and stability for Somalia. The reconciliation
strategy has two components: the first promotes peacebuilding at the
community level, and the other proposes reconciliation between the
Government and the opposition based within and outside Somalia. On 23 March
2008, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein met with the leadership of the
Hawiye Traditional and Unity Council to present the proposed strategy paper
detailing the Government’s reconciliation programme and also invited civil
society representatives to play a constructive role in the reconciliation
process. In an address to the Security Council at its high-level meeting on
peace and security, held on 16 April 2008 in New York, President Abdullahi
Yusuf Ahmed restated his personal commitment, and that of his Government, to
advancing peace and reconciliation in Somalia and called on the Council to
assist with the stabilization of the country (see S/PV.5868).
3. With the exception of Al-Shabaab, whose spokesperson, Mukhtar Robow,
has stated that the group will not engage with the Transitional Federal
Government, the Government’s strategy, by and large, has met with positive
reactions from other Somali stakeholders, and from ARS in particular. To
mobilize further support from within and outside Somalia, my Special
Representative, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, informed members of the Somali
diaspora, in an open letter dated 6 May 2008, of his efforts to secure peace
in Somalia and called for their support for the peace process.
4. My Special Representative also extended an invitation to the leaders
of ARS to engage in preliminary discussions on their role in the Somali
peace process, as a prelude to face-to-face talks with the Transitional
Federal Government. A high-level delegation of ARS, including its Chairman,
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and the Chairman of its Central Committee,
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, travelled to Nairobi and met with my Special
Representative and other representatives of the international community
between 28 March and 5 April. As a result of the discussion, the delegation
agreed to discuss the peace agenda advocated by the Transitional Federal
Government. The delegation welcomed the United Nations facilitation role and
signed a related memorandum of understanding on 4 April 2008.
5. During initial exchanges, leaders of the opposition stressed the need
for the international community to give priority to achieving sustainable
peace in Somalia and to recognize the responsibility to deploy a neutral
force that would be accepted by Somalis. Opposition leaders also identified
the presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia and ongoing human rights
violations as key areas to be addressed by the international community.
Following the meeting in Nairobi, the leaders of ARS consulted closely with
their constituents both within Somalia and abroad to secure their support
for further talks with the Transitional Federal Government.
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