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STORY: UN / SOMALIA
TRT: 2:15
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
17 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, speakers at podium
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulkareen Jama, Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications, Somalia:
“Overall Somalia is not as some would put it ‘mission impossible’, it is ‘mission possible’ and the evidence is already available on the ground. There’s a short period of time remaining for the transitional government mandate which runs our in August 2011. There’s a lot of effort to fashioning the what’s to come next.”
5. Cutaway, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulkareen Jama, Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications, Somalia:
“The conflict in Somalia is really rooted on a misunderstanding of Islam which the people opposing the government exploit to win hearts and minds. And right now, the majority of people are not buying that version or interpretation of Islam they are advocating including killing and maiming people and making people’s lives very difficult.”
7. Cutaway, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulkareen Jama, Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications, Somalia:
“The African Union forces now I believe number around 8,000. There have been discussions to bring another 4,000, 12,000, close to 20,000 to pacify the entire country and I think their presence will speed up the capacity of the new Somali forces to not only recover but hold territory so it is something we welcome very much.”
9. Cutaway, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdulkareen Jama, Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications, Somalia:
“The problem, whether its extremists or piracy, is to rebuild the security institutions of the country. And in the last few years the government has succeeded under very difficulty circumstances where is involved in constant fighting or its involved in rebuilding of these institutions with very little resources; succeeded in creating a Somali national forces of about 15,000 police and military.”
11. Med shot, end of press conference
12. Cutaway, journalists leaving
Somalia’s Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications briefed reporters today (17 December) on the political and security situation in the country.
Speaking at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, Abdulkareen Jama said that Somalia “is not as some would put it mission impossible” and that the transitional government is currently making “a lot of effort to fashioning the what’s to come next.”
The Horn of Africa country has been without a fully functioning central government and has been wracked by factional warfare since the toppling of the government in 1991.
Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was formed in 2004 and is set to end its term in August 2011. The TFG still has several tasks to complete such as continuing initiatives on reconciliation, building civilian and security institutions and the completion of the constitution-making process.
Jama said the conflict in the country “is really rooted on a misunderstanding of Islam which the people opposing the government exploit to win hearts and minds.”
Somalia has been torn apart by decades of conflict and factional strife, more recently with al-Shabaab Islamic militants. The country is also facing a dire humanitarian crisis in which 3.2 million people, more than 40 per cent of the population, is in need of aid.
The African Union and the UN created the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in 2007 to support the transitional governmental structures, implement a national security plan, train the Somali security forces, and to assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Jama said that there have discussions to bring the AMISOM forces “close to 2,000 to pacify the entire country” which, he added, “is something we welcome very much.”
When asked about Somalia’s piracy problem, Jama said “whether its extremists or piracy” the challenge “is to rebuild the security institutions of the country.”
He added that the TGI, in the last few years, “has succeeded under very difficulty circumstances” to rebuild the country’s various institutions including “creating a Somali national force.”
In September this year, at a mini Summit on Somalia, the UN called for more funding for the TFG security forces and AMISOM.
