SOMALIA: Somalis should be primary beneficiaries of High Level Consultative meeting

Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Augustine P. Mahiga today said that the High Level Consultative meeting will take place as scheduled on the 12 and 13 April in Nairobi.
“We have received positive responses to the conference from Somali parties and officials who are willing to participate in strengthening dialogue between the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) and its partners.”
Ambassador Mahiga said he believes that some small groups that have reacted in protest to the conference do not fully understand the true aim of the meeting, resulting in confusion surrounding the initiative.
“I believe some people have been misinformed about the objective of this meeting. The UN has a role as a facilitator. Recent events within the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) have demonstrated that there has been a disruption in dialogue between the TFG and its partners. It is my responsibility as facilitator, in accordance with the Djibouti Peace Agreement, to assist the TFIs in reconciling their differences so that the peace process can move forward. This meeting will pull into sharp focus the needs and tasks that must be addressed to end the transition productively for the Somali people. The outcome should be an agreed upon straight forward set of principles on how to move forward with the peace process and end the current transition,” Ambassador Mahiga said.
He said that this meeting will also pave the way forward for another, follow-up meeting in Mogadishu as proposed by the TFG.
Ambassador Mahiga said the UN, with the international community’s support stand ready to facilitate this consultation and to support the TFG and the Somali people, but that it is up to the participants to make the meeting productive.

For more information, please contact: Susannah Price / Donna Cusumano, Public Information OfficersUN Political Office for Somalia (Nairobi, Kenya)