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| Special representative Augustine Mahiga greets members of the technical selection committee PHOTO: UNPOS |
Mogadishu: The United Nations top political
official for Somalia on Friday welcomed a presidential decree on the Horn of
Africa country’s National Security and Stabilization Plan (NSSP), while the
Security Council has welcomed the recent progress Somalia has made in
progressing towards the end of its temporary governing arrangements.
“The development of the NSSP through [the
Somali regions of] Navaisha, Puntland, Galkayo, Nairobi and now Mogadishu has
been inclusive, participatory, led and owned by Somalis,” the
Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Political Office
for Somalia (UNPOS), Augustine Mahiga, said in a news release.
According to UNPOS, the NSSP
provides the immediate, medium- to long-term priority actions required to
strengthen the security and justice sector institutions in Somalia, respecting
and promoting human rights and the rule of law.
The President of Somalia, Sheikh
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, signed the NSSP decree earlier this week, at a ceremony in
the capital, Mogadishu, attended by senior Government officials. UNPOS noted
that he described the signing as an historic step, adding that “implementation
of the NSSP was critical for Somalia,” and appealed to the international
community to support the forthcoming Somali Government in the implementation of
the Plan.
After decades of warfare, Somalia
has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with the
country’s Transitional Federal Institutions implementing the Roadmap for the
End of Transition, devised last September. The Roadmap spells out priority measures
to be carried out before the current transitional governing arrangements end on
20 August.
Somalia’s Provisional
Constitution was overwhelmingly approved on 1 August by a representative body
convened for that purpose. The document was a key part of the Roadmap process –
it will provide a legal framework governing the workings of the new Somali
Federal Institutions after 20 August.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as
well as his Special Representative welcomed the Provisional Constitution’s
adoption as a historic achievement. However, both officials emphasized that its
adoption is not the end of the process for Somalia.