EU Council conclusions on Somalia

3076th FOREIGN AFFAIRS Coun­cil meet­ing
Brus­sels, 21 March 2011
The Coun­cil adopt­ed the fol­low­ing con­clu­sions:
“1. The EU express­es its con­tin­ued deep con­cern about the polit­i­cal, secu­ri­ty, devel­op­ment and human­i­tar­i­an sit­u­a­tion in Soma­lia, includ­ing the result­ing increase in the num­ber of dis­placed peo­ple. Insta­bil­i­ty in Soma­lia is pos­ing a grow­ing chal­lenge not only to the secu­ri­ty of peo­ple in Soma­lia, but also to the region and the rest of the world, through ter­ror­ism, pira­cy and the pro­lif­er­a­tion of weapons.

2. The EU con­firms its con­tin­ued sup­port for the Dji­bouti peace process, which remains the frame­work for peace build­ing and sta­bil­i­ty in Soma­lia. It is imper­a­tive that the Tran­si­tion­al Fed­er­al Insti­tu­tions (TFIs) demon­strate uni­ty, com­mon pur­pose and deter­mi­na­tion to advance in this incre­men­tal and all-inclu­sive process.

3. The EU deeply regrets the recent uni­lat­er­al deci­sion by the Soma­li Tran­si­tion­al Fed­er­al Par­lia­ment (TFP) to extend its man­date. It urges the TFIs to focus on imple­ment­ing the reforms that are nec­es­sary to build their legit­i­ma­cy, rep­re­sen­ta­tive­ness and cred­i­bil­i­ty and with­out which there can be no exten­sion. Any bridg­ing peri­od between the cur­rent and the reformed insti­tu­tion­al set up should be as short as pos­si­ble. The EU expects the TFIs to use any such peri­od to advance rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, secu­ri­ty and jus­tice and to devel­op min­i­mum lev­els of gov­er­nance to allow a more trans­par­ent man­age­ment of state rev­enues and the pro­vi­sion of basic ser­vices to the peo­ple of Soma­lia. The EU agrees that future sup­port to the TFIs, includ­ing stipends for par­lia­men­tar­i­ans, should be con­tin­gent on progress on reform and deliv­ery of the tran­si­tion­al tasks.

4. The EU stands ready to con­tribute, togeth­er with region­al and inter­na­tion­al part­ners, to the imple­men­ta­tion of an agreed reform agen­da for the TFIs on the basis of clear agreed bench­marks with a time­line for implementation. 

5. The EU empha­sis­es the impor­tance of re-ener­gis­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al process, in order to con­clude the tran­si­tion­al peri­od. If it is to have legit­i­ma­cy, this process should be based on broad par­tic­i­pa­tion by the Soma­li peo­ple. The EU sup­ports the role of the UN in facil­i­tat­ing a Soma­li-led process.

6. The EU calls on the Soma­li lead­er­ship to engage more active­ly with all stake­hold­ers, includ­ing region­al admin­is­tra­tions and par­ties to agree­ments with the TFIs, clan elders, reli­gious lead­ers, busi­ness­peo­ple, women and the dias­po­ra, in order to devel­op a cred­i­ble and inclu­sive Soma­li-owned polit­i­cal process for the ben­e­fit of all Soma­li peo­ple. The EU encour­ages region­al enti­ties to active­ly and con­struc­tive­ly par­tic­i­pate in this process. It also calls on all armed groups to urgent­ly lay down their weapons and join in a gen­uine broad­based peace­ful dia­logue with the Tran­si­tion­al Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment (TFG).

7. The EU con­firms its full sup­port to the UN and the Spe­cial Rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the UN Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al (UNSRSG), Mr Mahi­ga. It calls for more effec­tive use of the cur­rent mech­a­nisms of coor­di­na­tion between the Soma­li author­i­ties and the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty, to ensure a com­mon posi­tion favourable and con­ducive to reform and sta­bil­i­ty. The EU calls on the Soma­li author­i­ties to con­tin­ue their co-oper­a­tion with the UNSRSG and to use his good offices as well as his lead­er­ship with­in the Inter­na­tion­al Con­tact Group (ICG) on Soma­lia, as a means for more effec­tive consultation.

8. The EU notes the con­clu­sions of the last ICG on Soma­lia held in Madrid on 27–28 Sep­tem­ber 2010, and con­firms its will­ing­ness to increase its polit­i­cal sup­port to Soma­lia which will aim at sup­port­ing part­ner­ship with fed­er­al, region­al and local authorities.

9. The EU recalls that there can be no pure­ly mil­i­tary solu­tion to the cri­sis in Soma­lia. The EU reaf­firms its sup­port for AMISOM and prais­es the com­mit­ment and brav­ery of the AMISOM peace­keep­ing troops who, togeth­er with the secu­ri­ty forces of the TFG, have paid a heavy toll to help build secu­ri­ty for the Soma­li peo­ple. The EU under­lines that such sup­port must be matched by com­ple­men­tary polit­i­cal efforts by the TFG, includ­ing ini­tia­tives to demon­strate peace div­i­dends to peo­ple in safe areas. Con­sid­er­a­tions on future engage­ment in the frame­work of the EU Com­mon Secu­ri­ty and Defence Pol­i­cy (CSDP), includ­ing the EU Train­ing Mis­sion (EUTM) in Ugan­da, will depend on the polit­i­cal con­text, sat­is­fac­to­ry progress on a com­mand and con­trol struc­ture, and on the eval­u­a­tion of the rein­te­gra­tion of the first batch of trainees.

10. The EU reit­er­ates the need to strength­en ini­tia­tives to fight pira­cy. The EU com­mends the con­tri­bu­tion of the EU counter-pira­cy oper­a­tion, EU NAVFOR Ata­lan­ta, to this end. EU NAVFOR will con­tin­ue to adapt to the chang­ing tac­tics of pirates and seek to imple­ment agreed mea­sures pro-active­ly where pos­si­ble. The EU express­es its grave con­cern over the grow­ing num­ber of peo­ple, includ­ing sea­far­ers, held hostage. Pros­e­cu­tion and deten­tion of pirates are key com­po­nents of counter-pira­cy: the EU agrees on the need for strong sup­port for con­tin­ued capac­i­ty-build­ing in the rule of law and penal deten­tion sec­tors in Soma­lia and the wider region, which would also facil­i­tate the con­clu­sion of trans­fer agree­ments. The EU con­sid­ers that work needs to be tak­en for­ward on con­tribut­ing towards mak­ing progress on imple­ment­ing last­ing solu­tions for the pros­e­cu­tion of pirates, build­ing on the work already done last year by the EU, and tak­ing into account ongo­ing work in the UN con­text. In this regard, the EU wel­comes the report of the Spe­cial Advi­sor to the UN Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al on Legal Issues relat­ed to Pira­cy off the Coast of Soma­lia, and looks for­ward to the fur­ther debate in the UN on the imple­men­ta­tion of its rec­om­men­da­tions. The EU also wel­comes the agree­ment on post-tri­al trans­fer between the Sey­chelles Gov­ern­ment and the Soma­li TFG. The EU empha­sizes the need for work on dis­rupt­ing the finan­cial flows linked to pira­cy and address­ing the sit­u­a­tion of hostages.

11. The EU is com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the counter-pira­cy “Kam­pala Process”, bring­ing togeth­er the TFG and the regions Punt­land and Soma­liland, the Dji­bouti Code of Con­duct and the imple­men­ta­tion of the Region­al Plan of Action agreed by min­is­ters from the region in Octo­ber 2010. The EU recog­nis­es the need to tar­get its tech­ni­cal and finan­cial sup­port in this sec­tor most effec­tive­ly, work­ing close­ly along­side the UN-man­dat­ed Con­tact Group on Pira­cy off the Coast of Soma­lia, which plays an inter­na­tion­al coor­di­nat­ing role.

12. Con­tain­ment at sea will be fur­ther strength­ened by efforts to tack­le the root caus­es of pira­cy, focussed on improv­ing liveli­hoods, eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties and the rule of law. The EU will con­tin­ue to sup­port region­al ini­tia­tives to this end and will take an active role in co-ordi­nat­ing inter­na­tion­al efforts in those regions of Soma­lia most affect­ed, includ­ing in Puntland.

13. The EU express­es par­tic­u­lar con­cern about the increas­ing ten­sion and evi­dence of mil­i­tary build-up in Sool Region and Buhoo­dle Dis­trict, and calls on the region­al author­i­ties to con­tain the con­fronta­tion, exert restraint and fos­ter dia­logue to resolve differences.

14. The EU is active­ly con­sid­er­ing increas­ing its finan­cial assis­tance to sup­port cen­tral, region­al and local lev­el admin­is­tra­tions in con­sol­i­dat­ing sta­ble and account­able gov­er­nance and improv­ing liveli­hood oppor­tu­ni­ties and the pro­vi­sion of basic ser­vices. The EU aim is to enhance its sup­port to regions of Soma­lia, such as Soma­liland and Punt­land, com­mit­ted to peace, sta­bil­i­ty and democracy.

15. Giv­en the scale of the human­i­tar­i­an cri­sis fac­ing Soma­lia, the EU will con­tin­ue to pro­vide human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance to the most vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions in accor­dance with the human­i­tar­i­an prin­ci­ples of inde­pen­dence, neu­tral­i­ty, impar­tial­i­ty and human­i­ty. The EU is deeply con­cerned by the con­tin­u­ing con­trac­tion of human­i­tar­i­an space and access in Soma­lia, and calls on all actors to ensure free and unhin­dered access for the deliv­ery of human­i­tar­i­an assistance.” 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union 

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