Mr President, when I was in the British Parliament I co-chaired the all-party Somali group and I, and my Labour colleague, represented ports of Britain which had substantial Somali residents. That was because of the tradition of people from British Somaliland serving in the British Merchant Navy. As a result of that I learnt a lot about Somalia and Somaliland and I particularly learned what a complex area it is. I learnt that in the old flag there were five stars, one for each of the five Somali nations: French Somalia, which is now Djibouti; the British part of Somaliland, which is now part of Somalia; the British part of Kenya, which was made up of Somalis; the Italians with southern Somalia, which is now very much Somalia; and the Ethiopians in Ogaden. As has been said, the Ogadeni Somali community led to a war between Somalia and Ethiopia in an attempt to reunite the Somali peoples. It is the European Union's duty to help all the Somali nations. It is also our duty to understand their history. That is what they need now. They need political solutions that respect the five traditions, and support also for the economy, education, health, infrastructure and the security of those nations. In 1996 Somalia ranked 172 out of 174 countries on the UNDP's human development index. It was par excellence a least-developed country. Recent history has seen wars and destruction resulting from that. We have over 100 aid agencies working in Somalia. As the Commissioner has highlighted, the European Union and the Member States are the largest donors to the area, giving some EUR 60 million in all, compared with EUR 26 million from the Americans. But let us also remember the Somali diaspora, which brings back some EUR 400 million per annum to the country. Yet the average lifespan has fallen from 48 in 1990 to 45 in 1997; infant mortality is 125 per 1 000 live births; one in eight babies dies in the first year; 4 000 women die in childbirth every year. We have problems that are no longer just a result of civil war but are due to famine, the weather, contaminated water, abysmal sanitation and desertification. Only between 10% and 20% of children, depending on the region, attend school. Women are abused. They have little, if any, educational opportunities. Nearly 100% female circumcision is practised. There is a lost generation of Somali professionals – doctors, teachers, civil servants – who fled the country before the war and have not returned. The worst of the crisis is in southern Somalia, in central areas such as Galcaio, which was devastated at the peak of the troubles and is now being rebuilt, even with street lighting being reinstalled. We should not forget the progress that is being made in Somaliland: charity maternity hospitals are being built and opened, and there is a nurse training school. In Hargeisa unskilled wages are now twice the rate they are in Nairobi. In other words, political stability in some regions is bringing recovery and the hunger elsewhere is caused partly by fighting, although only sporadically, but much more by the drought. So our task must be to support aid and sustainable development projects and to look for political solutions. We must support the transitional government. We must also remember that areas like Somaliland have voted twice now – in the 1960s and again in 2001 – in a referendum to have independence. That is their choice. They have elected governments. It shows that Somalia is a complex region. There are some areas of despair and desolation. There are also areas of regeneration and stability. We need to rescue the hungry and vulnerable, support moves to bring political stability, but also respect the various traditions of those five Somali nations so that they can come together through these conferences to live as neighbours in peace and prosperity.

Political group: PPE-DE