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STORY: UN / SOMALIA
TRT: 3:30
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 5 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK
FILE – 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
5 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, Security Council meeting
3. Cutaway, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The London Conference occurred during a respite in Somalia’s humanitarian crisis. Sustained high levels of humanitarian assistance and an exceptional harvest have improved the situation. However, this progress is extremely fragile – and will likely deteriorate in the coming months as we move into the lean season before the next and most important harvest period in August. Somalia is not out of danger.”
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“To keep the Somalis committed and accountable, this Council must show its continued engagement and support in the political, security and recovery processes. I ask the Security Council to encourage all participants in the London Conference and the entire international community to support the implementation of the London Communiqué.”
7. Cutaway, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Augustine P. Mahiga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia (AMISOM-UNPOS):
“Failure to consolidate control over the recovered areas could create a vacuum and allow warlords to use the instability to their advantage. Local populations must know that the departure of Al-Shabaab shall be followed with peace dividends. To this end, the TFG issued in January a “National policy for reconciliation and stabilization in newly liberated areas in South-Central Somalia.”
9. Cutaway, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Augustine P. Mahiga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia (AMISOM-UNPOS):
“Unacceptable high rates of child mortality, disease, and malnutrition persist. More than 320.000 children in Somalia are still acutely malnourished. Many of the areas that were pulled out of famine remain on the cusp of falling back.”
11. Cutaway, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, United States Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations:
“Despite the military successes of AMISOM, Al-Shabaab remains dangerous. It continues to destroy the lives of innocent Somalis. We welcome the council’s decision as requested by the TFG to further degrade Al-Shabaab by imposing an international ban on imports and exports of charcoal from Somalia. This decision targets a primary revenue stream for Al-Shabaab, but sanctions only work when they are implemented. We urge all members states to take immediate steps to comply with the obligation contained ion resolution 2036 to ban the trade of Somali charcoal.”
13. Cutaway, delegates
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations:
“Secretary of State Clinton announced at the London conference that the United States would increase our humanitarian assistance to the Horn of Africa by 64 million dollars bringing our total emergency assistance to the region since 2011 upto more than 934 million dollars. That amount includes more than 211 million dollars for life saving programs in Somalia.”
15. Wide shot, meeting
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that sustained high levels of humanitarian assistance and an exceptional harvest have improved the situation in Somalia but progress was “extremely fragile” and would “likely deteriorate” in the coming months as the lean season approaches and before the most important harvest period in August.
Addressing the Security Council today he said “Somalia is not out of danger.”
Ban stressed that the Council must show its continued engagement and support in the political, security and recovery processes in the country in order “to keep the Somalis committed and accountable.”
The UN special envoy for Somalia Augustine P. Mahiga told the Council via videolink that failure to consolidate control over the recovered areas could “create a vacuum” and allow warlords to use the instability to their advantage.
He also said there were “unacceptable” high rates of child mortality, disease and malnutrition stating that more than 320,000 children in Somalia are still acutely malnourished. Mahiga said that any of the areas pulled out of famine “remain on the cusp of falling back.”
United States Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the alternate representative for special political affairs to the UN said that despite the military successes of AMISOM, Al-Shabaab remained dangerous and that his government welcomed the Council’s decision as requested by the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) to further degrade Al-Shabaab by imposing an international ban on imports and exports of charcoal from Somalia.
This decision he said, targets a primary revenue stream for Al-Shabaab, “but sanctions only work when they are implemented.”
Last month the Security Council passed a resolution increasing the size of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM) by almost 50 percent to deal with continued insecurity in the impoverished country.
The International Contact Group (ICG) tasked with bringing together the UN and its diplomatic partners in support of efforts to restore peace and stability in Somalia also said that that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) must end on 20 August this year, as stipulated in recent agreements, and called for a new draft constitution by mid-April.
