WRITTEN QUESTION E-3142/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Subject: The situation in Somalia

The outcome of the Djibouti Conference, in which, among others, the autonomous governments of Somaliland and Puntland did not take part, threatens to further fragment and destabilise Somali political life. The de facto recognition hoped for by some sectors of the international community as a prelude to ending the civil war in Somalia may paradoxically have the opposite effect the resumption of fighting at Mogadishu and the destabilisation of the north of the country, where the autonomous governments have maintained political and social stability and relative safety all these years. The outcome was determined by the fact that the vast majority of the delegates to the Djibouti Conference did not have grass-roots support and did not comply with the conditions specified to the United Nations by the President, namely the exclusion of the warlords, the involvement of civil society and the implementation of the building blocks programme, from the bottom up, precisely in order to prevent the conference from failing, as had happened twelve times before. The list of participants at the Conference reads like a catalogue of the nomenklatura of the dictatorship of the late Siad Barre, with a strong political, strategic and economic alliance with international Islamic fundamentalists, who seem to have played a decisive role in the decisions emerging from the Conference.

In view of all this, is the Commission aware that the first and only head of a sovereign State to recognise the new President of Somalia immediately and offer substantial funding was the President of Sudan?

In view of the threat of renewed armed conflict in Mogadishu and the surrounding district and the destabilisation of the peaceful autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland, what steps will the Commission take to ensure peace and re-establish a political balance between the various regional entities, which may be guaranteed by a federal system respecting autonomous entities?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(17 November 2000)

The Commission fully agrees with the declaration of 8 September 2000 by the Presidency on behalf of the Union on recent developments in Somalia.

This declaration expresses the hope that the election of Mr Abdiqasim Salad Hassan as President of Somalia by the National Transitional Assembly meeting in Arta and the recent nomination of a new government will contribute to the restoration of the State, to the preservation of national unity and to the territorial integrity of the country; the willingness to enter into dialogue with the new Somali authorities and, once they have established their authority, to support their efforts to rebuild the country, while continuing to give backing to recovery measures in all areas of Somalia where stable conditions already exist, thereby taking account of the situation in Somaliland and Puntland; a call on the authorities of Somaliland and Puntland to establish constructive relations with the institutions which have emerged from the Arta process while also urging the future transitional government to engage into a constructive dialogue with these authorities; an invitation to the heads of the armed movements which remain on the margins of the peace process to associate themselves with that process; and the hope that the new Somali authorities will establish close relations of friendship and cooperation with all the countries in the region.

The Commission is fully aware that international recognition of the new Somali government will take time especially considering the failure of many previous efforts to re-establish state structures in Somalia.

However, the Commission thinks that any reasonable initiative in this regard deserves support. The peace dividend approach to rehabilitation and development, which has been developed under full Community participation, is designed to ensure that international assistance is not only relevant to local efforts at reconstruction but also to peace building and support for civil society.

The Commission encourages the parties involved to find through negotiations, and under the strict exclusion of violence, a lasting well balanced political system. It supports the decision taken by the Arta peace conference enshrined in the transitional charter which foresees a federal system providing a substantial degree of autonomy for the various entities. The Commission has already funded a study on decentralisation in Somalia which has had a strong influence on the internal discussion regarding the future constitution.