IGAD Convenes Its 15th Extra-Ordinary Summit on Somalia
The 15th Extraordinary IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government was held in Addis Ababa, on 5th July under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The Summit considered the political and security situation in Somalia. The Assembly was attended by all the leaders of IGAD member states except Eritrea. Prior to the Summit meeting the Council held consultations on the 4th of July on developments since its last session on 15th June this year.
In his opening remark PM Meles underscored the gravity of the situation in Somalia. He underlined that the status quo in Somalia must not be allowed to continue. In this regard he said, "As we take stock of the prevailing situations, the way we have been trying to deal with the challenge has fallen far short of bringing the desired result. Hence, in the light of the prevailing political and security situation in Somalia, the status must be changed. Recent security in the country does not augur well. This coupled with the approaching end of the transition period, calls for serious work within the remaining time frame. In this regard, the Somalis, IGAD, AU and other stakeholders have to chart out specific actions and play their respective role in a more proactive manner."
The Ethiopian Prime Minister further stated that, the Somalis, as owners of their own destiny, had to be at the forefront of the struggle for peace and stability in Somalia and that their role could not be replaced. According to PM Meles, IGAD and others could only support the endeavours of the people of Somalia. While pointing out that the tasks to be accomplished during the transition period were enormous, he reminded the Somali leaders that a lot was expected from the TFG and expressed hope they would live up to expectations in meeting the challenge. With regard to IGAD, he stressed that it needed to be more proactive in dealing with the situation and to enhance its support to the IGAD process, which he said was the only framework and the best option to deal with the challenges faced by Somalia. He emphasised that the extremists must not be allowed, at any cost, to spoil the transition process and pointed out that the gravity of the problem required a concerted effort on the part of Somalis, IGAD, the Africa Union and the international community at large. However, Prime Minister Meles regretted that Somalia so far had not received the necessary attention it deserved while at the same time expressing his gratitude to the international community for giving assistance and support to the people of Somalia, however meagre it was. But he once again reiterated that the support and assistance offered to Somalia was not commensurate with the enormity of the challenges the country continued to face. While underscoring the need for IGAD members to reaffirm their commitment to the peace and stability of Somalia, he at the same time called upon the international community to play its role. He pointed out that there was no reason why a UN peace keeping force could not be deployed in areas where African peace keepers were doing whatever they can to assist the people and Government of Somalia. He concluded by calling upon the UN to deploy a peace keeping force to replace AMISOM.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the President of the TFG, on his part, underlined in a briefing to the Summit that the meeting was timely and should come up with concrete measures to address the challenges posed by extremists with a foreign agenda. He expressed the full readiness of the people of Somalia to fight the scourge of terrorism but said they needed the support of the IGAD region as a whole in their day to day struggle.
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Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the IGAD Council of Ministers, Seyoum Mesfin, also briefed the Assembly on the decisions reached by the 36th IGAD Council of Ministers held on 15th June 2010 as well as the consultations held on the 4th of July 2010. Minister Seyoum told the Summit that the Council had conducted an in depth discussion, which had been frank and constructive. The Council in its Communiqué had identified measures that should be undertaken by the TFG and IGAD as a region. He underlined that the decisions contained in the Communiqué had identified crucial steps that needed to be taken to ensure that the TFG would become more credible as a Government. In particular, the Council of Ministers focused greater attention on the security situation in Somalia and it was in light of the gravity of the situation in Somalia that the Council proposed the holding of the Extraordinary Summit.
Minister Seyoum emphasized that Council had underscored the need to bring about fundamental changes in the security sector to effectively address the security challenges in Somalia. In this regard, the Council did call upon the TFG to reorganize the structure of its security forces with the view to unifying all its regional units under a central command. The Council also emphasized that the troops being trained to serve in the security forces of the TFG had to be logistically supported and remunerated. It was in this context that a Mission composed of military officers of IGAD Member States was dispatched to Mogadishu from 21st to 26th June. The team, having held extensive discussions with the TFG officials and AMISOM commanders as well as other stakeholders, had assessed the situation on the ground. The Summit was briefed on the outcome of the Mission's assessment whereupon it reached agreement that the Report of the Mission did in fact highlight the major problems in the security area and acknowledged that the proposed recommendations were sound and realistic.
On a positive note, the Council also took note of the encouraging steps the TFG had taken to ensure the broadening of its base of support. In this regard, the Council commended the Agreement that was signed between the TFG and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa on 15th March 2010. The recent reshuffle of the Government was in fact partly designed to ensure the implementation of this important agreement. This was a significant step towards proving wrong those who are currently doing everything to undermine the Djibouti process, underlined Minister Seyoum.
Minister Seyoum further informed the Summit that the Council had agreed that there was a critical need for harmonization of the activities of all parties active in Somalia. The Council therefore, suggested that the Summit should call upon AMISOM, UNPOS and IGAD to establish an operational level coordination mechanism in Mogadishu in order to strengthen and harmonize their support. According to Foreign Minister Seyoum, this coordination required an immediate relocation of the police and civilian components of AMISOM to Mogadishu. Cognizant of the need for mobilizing greater support for the people of Somalia, the Council felt that there was a need for designating a prominent figure of high stature as AU High Representative for Somalia, a recommendation Minister Seyoum submitted to the Summit for its decision. Accordingly, the Summit issued decisions on both issues calling on AMISOM, IGAD and UNPOS to set up a coordination mechanism and called on the AU Commission Chairperson to nominate an eminent personality for Somalia, while further calling for an immediate relocation of the police and civilian component of AMISOM to Somalia.
The Summit was held against the backdrop of the worsening security situation in Mogadishu which already added greater urgency to many of the recommendations submitted by the Military Mission which had earlier visited Mogadishu. The Summit held extensive discussion on the current developments and unanimously concluded that what was going on in Somalia was fighting between the people of Somalia and international terrorists and extremist groups further underlining that the threat posed by these groups was not only a threat to Somalia, but a threat to the peace of the region and the world at large. But it recognized with regret that the Security Council had failed to fully carry out its obligation in Somalia. It was therefore with this in mind that the Summit reiterated its call on the United Nations to discharge its responsibility to the people of Somalia and do so as speedily as possible by deploying a peacekeeping force to the country.
IGAD Facilitator for Somalia, Kipruto Arap Kirwa, also briefed the Assembly on the IGAD military experts’ mission to Mogadishu that was undertaken pursuant to the decision by the 36th Session of the IGAD Council of Ministers, detailing the military situation, the relations between the various stakeholders and challenges faced by the people and government of Somalia. The Summit endorsed the recommendations of the military mission to Somalia as amended and directed the Chiefs of Defence Staff of IGAD Member States to convene an urgent meeting and submit to the AU Commission an action plan to deploy 2,000 peace keepers to Somalia to enable AMISOM to reach the authorized level of strength of 8,100 personnel, and to review and implement, as appropriate, the recommendations made by the IGAD Military Mission to Somalia. This meeting of the Chiefs of Defence Staff is expected to convene in the middle of this month.
Finally, the Summit cautioned against and rejected the proliferation of initiatives that could undermine the Djibouti Peace Process as the only credible arrangement on which to build. The Summit concluded by urging the TFG to continue the efforts it had been making to broaden its base while ensuring that the process was protected from the threat posed by extremists who are bent on seeing the Djibouti process dismantled.