Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at the UNSC briefing on Somalia
Mr.President,
We are grateful to the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative James Swan and the Special Representative of the AU and head of AMISON Francisco Madeira for their traditionally informative briefings. We also listened to the briefing of the representative of civil society and head of the Somali Women's Leadership Initiative Asha Siyad. We welcome the participation of the Permanent Representative of Somalia to the UN Abukar Dahir Osman in today’s meeting.
We carefully examined the latest report of the UN Secretary-General.
We note that since the last quarterly UNSC briefing the Federal Government of Somalia has managed to demonstrate new successes in forming a sustainable model of federal system. The completion of elections to the Senate was an important milestone in this process. We welcome the fact that the Somalis managed to reach 26% quota of women in the Senate. We also welcome the beginning of voting to the lower chamber of the Somali Parliament. We are grateful to UNSOM and personally to you, Mr.Swan, for your contribution in resolving the differences within the Federal Government. We hope that the time left will be enough for Somalia to complete the electoral process in accordance with the revised election timetable and with the Somali agreements of 17 September 2020 and 27 May 2021.
The security situation in Somalia remains tense. We call on the government of Somalia and African peacekeepers not to cut back on their efforts to combat Al-Shabaab and to continue to focus particular attention on the security of the elections. The situation in Jubaland, Galmudug and Hirshabelle requires particular attention, where in addition to Al-Shabaab other extremist groups are becoming more active and inter-clan confrontation is on the rise.
Mr.President,
Against this backdrop, we commend the work of the African peacekeeping mission in the country which remains a key element of security in Somalia. We also welcome the continuing discussions of Mogadishu with key international actors on configuration of the future missions and the parameters of the transfer of responsibility for security in the country from AMISOM to the Somali national army. We have taken due note of the reformatting of the mission into a hybrid operation of the UN and the AU which was approved last month by the continental organization. We expect that all participants of these discussions will manage to negotiate mutually acceptable decisions. In any case, we are convinced that any decisions on the African peacekeeping mission must be taken with due account of the view of Mogadishu and progress in training the Somali national army as well as building the singular national architecture of security. It is also important to avoid a security vacuum.
Mr.President,
Taking into consideration the complex humanitarian situation in Somalia, Russia will continue to provide assistance to the country and to Somali refugees in neighboring countries through targeted contributions to the earmarked funds of the UN WFP. We also intend to continue to train Somali civilian personnel.
In conclusion, Mr.President, allow me to assure you of the readiness of our delegation to continue to focus on the topic of Somalia on the agenda of the UNSC whilst strictly respecting its sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.
Thank you for your attention.
