UN envoy hails presidential decree in Somalia

Saturday, August 11, 2012
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.
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