By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

UNITED NATIONS, New York – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Security Council Thursday that the crisis in the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation which has been devastated by factional fighting and without a functioning central government since 1991 can no longer be ignored.

“To prevent the situation from deteriorating further, and spilling over into the region and further afield, we should join the dots. In Somalia the international community still has some good cards [including the current Government]. It should play them right,” Mr. Ould-Abdallah stated.

This, he said, will allow the international community to overcome two main challenges, beginning with the “absence of a concrete commitment and a determined international policy towards Somalia and its present leadership. “Continued hesitation and the absence of effective action have encouraged the extremists and, at the same time, weakened the Government,” he noted.

Secondly, he said that despite a massive consensus of support for the Transitional Federal Government from the international community, that backing has yet to be translated into the necessary material assistance.

Somalia is considered the typical case of a “failed State,” a top UN envoy told reporters. “We believe that with the situation we have now, we have moved from a failed Stated to a fragile State – a State which needs to be nurtured, supported to be able to carry out its responsibility at home and abroad, including in the region.”

Mr. Ould-Abdallah said, that the county’s Transitional Federal Government had made significant progress, despite repeated armed assaults by externally funded extremists attempting to overthrow it. Citing the Government’s accomplishments, he said they included establishing its authority in Mogadishu, the capital; drawing up a budget; recruiting and training security forces; and keeping its political legitimacy over violent and extremist groups.

The Council should send a strong and clear signal to the extremists by strengthening the Government in a practical manner, he said, calling on the international community to provide more vigorous moral, diplomatic and financial assistance.  “Assistance delayed is assistance denied.”

It had become imperative to work more closely with IGAD, the African Union, the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, he continued.  The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) deserved, as an emergency matter, support through troop allowances increased to the international level, the timely disbursement of those allowances, and payment for lethal equipment.

The Council should also vigorously address the role of the spoilers, he said.  A clear and effective message, backed by concrete action, would demonstrate that those who funded the extremists -– “creating misery for innocent civilians, violating international law, including through recruitment of child soldiers and threatening peace and stability of the region” -– would no longer enjoy impunity.  “The protection of civilians is an obligation long ignored in Somalia,” he noted.

He said those recommendations would be implemented more effectively once the United Nations family working on Somalia operated in an integrated and harmonized manner.  There was a need to accelerate the move by the Organization and the international community to Mogadishu.

“To help the Somalis, especially the victims, we have to be with them,” he stressed.  Failure to intervene actively to restore stability was already threatening the effectiveness of the international community, in addition to costing vast amounts of resources.  Failure to act decisively could only lead to a dramatic increase in that cost.

For more information, please see:

UN News Service- Government Needs More Coordinated, Effective Support – UN Envoy – 15 January 2010

All Africa- Secretary General’s Special Representative, Briefing Security Council, Calls Somalia ‘Global Crisis’ That Can No Longer Be Ignored – 15 January 2010

The Star Online- Somalia is Moving From Failed to Fragile State – 15 January 2010

Relief Web- Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Breifing Security Council, Calls Somalia ‘Global Crisis’ That Can No Longer Be Ignored – 14 January 2010