The UN Somalia Website news team asked Mr. Kent about the purpose of the talks and how the UN is approaching the new situation in Somalia. I would like to meet the newly-elected president of the Transitional National Government, to share with him some of our ideas about the ways that we can help his administration and the ways that we can broaden our help to the people of Somalia as a whole. The president will know and understand that we have ongoing programs throughout the country, and these will continue, but at the same time, we want to be very sure that he also knows that we are there to help him, his administration, and the people of Somalia at large. However, to do this, we want to be sure that our own ideas fit in with his ideas, and that is why I would like to see the president to discuss the kinds of plans that we both have. The United Nations, of course, doesn t recognize governments.
States recognize governments.
Nevertheless, the United Nations always supports peace and stability. And if the people of Somalia see that this new administration is a way to achieve both peace and stability, then we in the United Nations want to support it. What the UN wants to do to support this new Transitional National Government is, first of all, to be sure that the government has the kind of basic resources and training that its administrators need to deal with the challenges that Somalia faces. So the first thing we want to do is to provide sufficient equipment and training to get the government functioning as effectively as it can. In parallel with that, we want to be sure that the government will be able to reach out to its people, try to help the children of Somalia through education programs, through vaccination programs, to try to help the people of Somalia generally through building up health services, through building up employment opportunities, to try and strengthen the ports and the roads.