Rawlings calls for the implementation of recommendations on Somalia

March 03, 2011

Accra, March 3, GNA - Former President Jerry John Rawlings has called on institutions working towards peace in Somalia to implement recommendations agreed during the two-day conference on Somalia in Accra.

    

President Rawlings who is the African Union (AU) High Representative for Somalia said the communiqué issued at the end of the conference would be meaningless if its recommendations were not implemented.

    

"The communiqué tells us this conference has come up with concrete recommendations on how to support the Djibouti Peace Process during the remaining period of the Transition and beyond. This is a commendable achievement but it will mean nothing if it is not implemented, "he added.

    

This was contained in a statement issued from the Office of Former President Rawlings in Accra on Thursday.

    

Delivering the closing remarks at the conference, President Rawlings said: "I call on all those institutions to which these recommendations have been made, to support the Somalia Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP)."

    

"The TFP will be required to take the necessary steps in order to avoid any vacuum or create conditions, which anti-peace elements will exploit to jeopardize the gains we have recorded so far."

     

President Rawlings pledged to collaborate with all the stakeholders to mobilise the International Community to ensure that these recommendations were translated into tangible dividends to maintain the momentum gained in recent times.

     

"I hope our prayer of thoughts and prayer of words will now be translated into a prayer of action in Somalia", he added.

     

During the conference, President Rawlings held meetings with leading figures on the Somalia process, including Sheikh Shariff Hassan Sheikh Aden, Speaker of the Somali Parliament and Mr Boubacar Diarra, Special Representative of the Chairperson of AU Commission to Somalia.

     

The rest were; Mr Augustine Mahiga, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to Somalia and Mr Patrick Nabiswa Koyi, Representative of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

GNA