8280th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Somalia

Voicing concern over fighting in Somalia, Security Council presidential statement urges parties cease hostilities, allow unhindered humanitarian access at 8280th meeting.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 00:11:24
• Production Date: 7 June 2018
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION - AU; AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA – AMISOM
• Subject Topical: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; SECURITY SECTOR REFORM; VIOLENCE
• Geographic Subject: SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: 2170429
• Parent Id: 2170063

Description

Welcoming security, economic and political reforms in Somalia — including the peaceful election of a new Speaker of the House of People and resumed Parliament activity — the Security Council today noted with concern recent fighting in the northern Sool region, urging parties to cease hostilities, pull back their forces and engage in dialogue.

In presidential statement S/PRST/2018/13 read out by Dmitry A. Polyanskiy (Russian Federation), Council President for June, the 15‑member organ called on all parties to allow and facilitate full, safe, rapid and unhindered humanitarian access.

More broadly, the Council expressed serious concern over the threat posed by Al‑Shabaab, reaffirming its support for a comprehensive approach to security. It also expressed concern about abduction and use of child soldiers, as well as sexual and gender‑based violence.

Against that backdrop, the Council welcomed progress on developing a conditions‑based transition plan with target dates for the transfer of security responsibilities from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to Somali security institutions. To provide the basis for that transition, it recalled the critical importance of accelerating implementation of the national security architecture agreement, urging the federal Government and federal member states to prioritize those efforts.

The Council also looked forward to recommendations from the fourth African Union‑United Nations joint review of AMISOM on how the Mission should be configured to support the transition. It expressed deep concern about the continued risk of famine and the impact of recent flooding, underlining the importance of continued international support to build long‑term resilience.

On the political front, the Council welcomed the resumption of high‑level dialogue between the federal Government of Somalia and the federal member states to make progress on the priorities of: power- and resource‑sharing, the constitutional review, fiscal federalism, preparations for one‑person, one‑vote elections in 2020/2021, support for regional security forces and finalizing the justice and corrections federal model — all of which required political agreements that could form the basis for legislation in the federal Parliament.

The meeting began at 10:06 a.m. and ended at 10:17 a.m.