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UN / SOMALIA WRAP
STORY: UN/SOMALIA
TRT: 3.06
SOURCE: UNTV/AU-UN/IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
DATELINE: 30 NOVEMBER 2013, NEW YORK CITY/FILE
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Cutaway, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy-Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This moment of hope in Somalia is fragile. High expectations are directed at the United Nations and the African Union. The findings of the AU-UN mission on security are clear. After 18 months of successful operations that uprooted Al Shabaab from major cities, the campaign by AMISOM and Somali forces has, in recent months, ground to a halt. The AMISOM Force Commander told me that neither AMISOM nor the Somali army has the capacity to push beyond areas already recovered. Their hold of the existing territory would be tenuous if the current status-quo continues.”
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy-Secretary-General, United Nations:
“While these forces remain largely static, Al Shabaab is mobile and is training and recruiting substantial numbers of frustrated, unemployed young men. There has been a surge in deadly attacks. Although weakened, the insurgency is still able to conduct terror operations – not only in its areas of control, but in Mogadishu and Kismayo, and elsewhere.”
7. Cutaway, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy-Secretary-General, United Nations:
“It is the joint recommendation of the Secretary-General and the African Union that AMISOM and Somali forces need a significant temporary boost to maintain the basic security required for peacebuilding, as well as to respond to the evolving threat from Al Shabaab.”
9. Cutaway, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy-Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The number of piracy incidents has decreased considerably. At the same time, the report highlights the need for a comprehensive strategy to sustain these security gains. More work is required to address the underlying causes of piracy in Somalia. As the Secretary-General notes in his report, the security, development and governance factors have not changed sufficiently to deter criminals from attacking ships and holding seafarers hostage.”
11. Cutaway, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Eliasson, Deputy-Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Without a sufficient level of security, what we have worked so hard for could be sacrificed, could be lost. The attack in June on the UN in Mogadishu and the terror act in Nairobi in September underline Al-Shabaab’s intent to force an international retreat from Somalia and to inflict suffering on Somalis in order to erode their confidence in the peace process and indeed in the future.”
FILE – AU-UN/IST - 26 OCTOBER 2013, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
13. Various shots, UN DSG Jan Eliasson greeted by Somali Government and UN officials on his arrival to Somalia
14. Various shots, Somali President H.E Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and UN Deputy Secretary-General Eliasson address the media
15. 11. Wide shot, pan down Jan Eliasson visiting UN country team offices
16. Mid shot, UN country team officials show Eliasson the site of June al Shabaab attack on UN offices
17. Close up, bullet holes at UN office containers
The United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General said that without adequate security, the efforts of the Somali Government and people, and those of their partners, could be in vain, calling on the Security Council to support a temporary boost to national and international forces aiming to maintain basic security in the Horn of Africa nation.
Just back from Somalia, Jan Eliasson warned the Security Council today that “this moment of hope in Somalia is fragile.”
He said that a security mission carried out by the AU (African Union)and the UN found that after 18 months of successful operations that uprooted Al-Shabaab from major cities, the campaign by AMISOM and Somali forces has in recent months “ground to a halt.”
Eliasson said that he was informed by the AMISOM Force Commander that neither AMISOM nor the Somali army had the capacity to push beyond areas already recovered adding that,“their hold of the existing territory would be tenuous if the current status-quo continues.”
He also warned that while the AU forces remained largely static, Al-Shabaab was "mobile" and training and recruiting substantial numbers of "frustrated, unemployed young men.”
He said that, "although weakened, the insurgency is still able to conduct terror operations – not only in its areas of control, but in Mogadishu and Kismayo, and elsewhere."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the AU have jointly recommended that AMISOM and Somali forces need a “significant temporary boost” to maintain the basic security required for peacebuilding, as well as to respond to the evolving threat from Al-Shabaab.
He spoke of the decrease in the number of attacks by pirates over the past few years but said at the same time, more work was required to address the underlying causes of piracy in Somalia.
Eliasson talked about stepped up efforts by Al Shabaab with the attack on the UN mission in Mogadishu last June and the recent terror act at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
He concluded his briefing to the Council with at warning that, “without a sufficient level of security, what we have worked so hard for could be sacrificed."
Last weekend, Eliasson travelled to Mogadishu to assess the progress made and challenges faced in stabilizing the country following 22 years of conflict.
Somalia has been torn asunder by factional fighting since 1991 but has recently made progress towards stability.
In 2011, Al-Shabaab insurgents retreated from Mogadishu and last year, new Government institutions emerged, as the country ended a transitional phase toward setting up a permanent, democratically-elected Government.
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