UN Diplomat Urges International Attention on
Somalia
The United Nation's top diplomat to Somalia is urging the international
community to renew efforts to forge a political settlement to end the East
African nation's longstanding political strife, violence and anarchy. VOA's
Michael Bowman reports from Washington, where U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Somalia spoke Monday.
Despite years of conflict and the failure of high-level meetings between
warring parties to yield a lasting accord, U.N. Special Representative
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah says the international community should not
abandon hope for Somalia. Even so, he concedes the situation in the country
remains grim.
"The situation in Somalia, indeed, is serious. Serious because it has been at
war for so long that many people probably do not understand what it means
to live in peace, and this is not an exaggeration, or living with a government,"
he said.
More than a dozen national reconciliation conferences among warring
factions from the 1990s to the present day have yet to generate a stable
Somali government with standing and authority over the whole of the country.
Further complicating the situation is the continuing presence of Ethiopian
forces, which drove a militant Islamist movement from power in the south of
the country in 2006.
But Ould-Abdallah says there are hopeful signs, as well. He argues that
factional differences are more political in nature than clan-based, that
Somalis have no divisions along religious or linguistic lines, and that the
country's lack of effective governance has not ground the economy to a halt.
The Mauritanian-born U.N. diplomat says, when Somalia's factions meet
again, he will attempt to steer them away from endless discussions of past
grievances and force them to focus on their country's future.
"I am not going to go back through history, what happened in 1991, what
happened in 2006. Blaming others, the past: these people are responsible,
that person, that regime. And so what? What is needed now is [a focus on]
what Somalis can do to help," he added.
But Somalia observers say getting the world to focus on the country is no
easy task at a time when conflicts in nations like Iraq and Sudan continually
grab headlines.
"Unfortunately, the world pays much to little attention to the tragic situation in
Somalia, which has continued for many years. There has been no effective
central government in Somalia for 17 years," said David Smock, an Africa
expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which hosted Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah's
discussion of Somalia.
But the lack of worldwide focus on Somalia may soon change. The U.N.
Security Council is examining options for Somalia, including the possibility of
sending a peacekeeping force to the country to take over from a small
contingent of African Union troops. Last week, the U.S. Ambassador to the
UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said no decision is imminent, but that, in his words, 'a
variety of options' are being examined.
Somalia
The United Nation's top diplomat to Somalia is urging the international
community to renew efforts to forge a political settlement to end the East
African nation's longstanding political strife, violence and anarchy. VOA's
Michael Bowman reports from Washington, where U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Somalia spoke Monday.
Despite years of conflict and the failure of high-level meetings between
warring parties to yield a lasting accord, U.N. Special Representative
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah says the international community should not
abandon hope for Somalia. Even so, he concedes the situation in the country
remains grim.
"The situation in Somalia, indeed, is serious. Serious because it has been at
war for so long that many people probably do not understand what it means
to live in peace, and this is not an exaggeration, or living with a government,"
he said.
More than a dozen national reconciliation conferences among warring
factions from the 1990s to the present day have yet to generate a stable
Somali government with standing and authority over the whole of the country.
Further complicating the situation is the continuing presence of Ethiopian
forces, which drove a militant Islamist movement from power in the south of
the country in 2006.
But Ould-Abdallah says there are hopeful signs, as well. He argues that
factional differences are more political in nature than clan-based, that
Somalis have no divisions along religious or linguistic lines, and that the
country's lack of effective governance has not ground the economy to a halt.
The Mauritanian-born U.N. diplomat says, when Somalia's factions meet
again, he will attempt to steer them away from endless discussions of past
grievances and force them to focus on their country's future.
"I am not going to go back through history, what happened in 1991, what
happened in 2006. Blaming others, the past: these people are responsible,
that person, that regime. And so what? What is needed now is [a focus on]
what Somalis can do to help," he added.
But Somalia observers say getting the world to focus on the country is no
easy task at a time when conflicts in nations like Iraq and Sudan continually
grab headlines.
"Unfortunately, the world pays much to little attention to the tragic situation in
Somalia, which has continued for many years. There has been no effective
central government in Somalia for 17 years," said David Smock, an Africa
expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which hosted Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah's
discussion of Somalia.
But the lack of worldwide focus on Somalia may soon change. The U.N.
Security Council is examining options for Somalia, including the possibility of
sending a peacekeeping force to the country to take over from a small
contingent of African Union troops. Last week, the U.S. Ambassador to the
UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said no decision is imminent, but that, in his words, 'a
variety of options' are being examined.