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.