UAE calls for clear road map to help Somali people and restore peace (1st Add)

2011-03-11 13:38:58
WAM X X X coast.
The support in the political process requires supporting efforts aimed at establishing political dialogue among all Somali parties and entities, including within the transitional federal institutions, and the groups remaining outside the framework of the Djibouti peace process, in order to encourage these groups to join this process and secure the cessation of all acts of violence in the country, including acts of extremism as well as the other acts targeting the humanitarian workers there, Al Jarman said.
Addressing the tragic humanitarian situation in Somalia requires the international community to strengthen its humanitarian, financial and economic support to the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, in order to enable it to face the repercussions of the drought affecting the country and implement the reform, rehabilitation and recovery programs of the Somali economy aiming at reconstructing Somalia and creating legitimate alternative sources of income as a substitute for hostilities and piracy activities, which currently attract hundreds of the Somali young people. Here, we wish to refer to the humanitarian assistance provided recently by the UAE to Somalia represented in 149 tones of food, hoping that all States will undertake similar humanitarian initiatives to alleviate the current plight affecting people in Somalia, Al Jarman stressed.
The growing phenomenon of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, whose threats to the movement of international navigation and trade, including the movement of humanitarian assistance to the African continent, have exceeded international efforts made so far to combat it, and even resulted in huge annual financial losses of U.S. $ 12 billions according to the reports of the International Bureau of Navigation. Therefore the UAE, one of the affected countries and an active supporter for the Contact Group on Piracy off the Somali Coast and its four working groups, calls upon the international community to develop a holistic and long-term strategy capable of fighting and eliminating this phenomenon completely, and bringing to justice those who are responsible, involved in or facilitating acts of piracy, in order to ensure the total prevention and cessation of these acts. In this context, we support the options and recommendations contained in the recent report of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy on this issue, stressing in this context that anti-piracy efforts must be an integral part of the overall strategy for the Djibouti peace agreement, Al Jarman underlined.
"My country, which hosted in the past a number of forums on combating sea piracy, hopes that the high-level conference scheduled to be held in Dubai during the period from 17 to 19 April under the title (Global Threat, Regional Responses: Forging a Common Approach to Maritime Piracy), will contribute to supporting and strengthening current international efforts aimed at combating this phenomenon", he said.
Al Jarman concluded reiterating UAE's position calling for the full respect of the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Somalia in any international or regional efforts undertaken for restoring the security, stability and prosperity in this country.