Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 19/12/2009
Statement of his Excellency Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu secretary general of the organization of the Islamic conference at the 16th session of the international contact group on Somalia held on 17th December 2009 at OIC general secretariat in Jeddah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia H.E. The Prime Minister of Somalia, H.R.H. The Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia H.E. The Foreign Minister of Somalia, H.E. The SRSG on Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, Distinguished delegates, Honorable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me begin by expressing my profound pleasure to welcome you at our new headquarters building in Jeddah as we assemble in the context of the 16th Session of the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG). At this important occasion, I would like to greet all the members of the ICG including the newly co-opted ones. There is no doubt that your presence here today is a clear indication of your commitment as well as the sustained interest of your respective countries and organizations in the Somalia question. Let me take this opportunity to pay my tribute to the United Nations for its central role in global conflict resolution and peace and security restoration along with the other international stakeholders. My appreciation also goes to the Organization for its sincere efforts to bring together all concerned entities in a quest to put the Somali issue as a priority in the international agenda. The OIC has remained in close contact and worked in unison with the UN to find the needed ways and means to restore peace and security in Somalia which includes my direct personal contacts with the UN Secretary General time to time. In the same vein, I would specifically pay my high regards to H E Mr. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for his commendable role and outstanding performance directed towards bringing some tangible outcome of the efforts of all concerned to restore peace, security and stability in Somalia. Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Since the beginning of the conflict in Somalia nearly two decades ago, the OIC has always given top priority to the situation in that country, a founding Member State of the Organisation. The crisis in Somalia has permanently featured on the agenda of all OIC Summits and Conferences of the Foreign Ministers including their Annual Coordination Meetings in New York. Similarly, the OIC Contact Group on Somalia has been active on the question. In all its Resolutions, the OIC recognized the importance for international partnership on the conflict and therefore continued to support and participate in all genuine, national, regional or international endeavours and initiatives aimed at finding peaceful and lasting solutions to the crisis. In this context, the OIC welcomed the appointment of Special Representative Ould Abdallah and resolved to actively participate in the Djibouti peace process which fruitfully produced the historic Djibouti Peace Agreement, the formation of a new Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the election of H.E. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed as President of Somalia. In this connection, I salute the role played by all partners of Somalia especially the Republic of Djibouti, the UN, AU, IGAD and LAS and the neighbors of Somalia among others for their sacrifices and contributions to the process. To support the implementation of the Djibouti Agreement, I have continued to mobilize the Member States and OIC financial Institutions to extend the necessary financial, material and logistics support including assistance for the deployment of the joint security force, contributing troops to beef up the African Union Peace Support Operation in Somalia (AMISOM) as well as participating in the proposed UN Peace keeping operation. I have personally written to the Member States and even visited some of them to sensitize their leadership on the need to support the Somalia project. The OIC Expanded Executive Committee during its extraordinary meeting at ministerial level held in January 2009 endorsed my endeavors and resolved to extend all forms of support to Somalia in a concrete manner. The 36th CFM in May 2009 in Damascus also reiterated this position. However, since the inauguration of the Transitional Government which remains the only internationally recognized authority in Somalia, daunting challenges have continued to militate against rapid progress especially in the security sector. The opponents of the legitimate authorities in Somalia represented by the Al-Shabaab and other insurgent groups have sustained their armed assaults with the aim of undermining and frustrating our collective efforts. At this stage, I wish to reiterate the strong condemnation and outrage of the OIC for the recent suicide attack at a university graduation ceremony in Mogadishu in which scores of people including four Ministers, teachers and students representing the future of Somalia were cowardly murdered. We must remain steadfast and united to help the Somali government to bring an end to this vicious bloodbath. As it can be observed, despite the appreciable prevailing solidarity being demonstrated by the international community and the determination of the transitional government to expand its writ over the country, Somalia is still at a crossroad and the security situation remains fragile. Considering the huge investment so far made in the Somalia project, it is therefore incumbent on all of us, as stakeholders, to continue to work together with the government in order to protect and preserve our collective investment in the interest of regional and international peace and security. In this regard, I wish to call upon all partners to honor their commitments and pledges made at the 23rd April 2009 Donors’ Conference in Brussels in support of the Somali security institutions and AMISOM, which we all acknowledge deserved special commendation for its enormous sacrifices. The TFG and AMISOM alone lack the necessary resources and capacities to bring stability and peace to Somalia. They need assistance in terms of developing and boosting their institutional and human capacities in order to perform and deliver the required dividends of the peace process. We must also continue to encourage the government to promote dialogue and reconciliation with such groups who renounce violence and join the peace process. However, we must also demonstrate resolute resolve to confront as well as defeat the spoilers and enemies of peace and progress. I urge this meeting to send a strong and clear message to them that terrorist activities and violence will not pay and will never be rewarded. In the same vein, while we note with appreciation the battle against the menace of the condemnable acts of piracy being waged by the international naval force off the coast of Somalia, the long term solution to this scourge lies in restoring stability on the land and assisting Somalia to establish a robust naval force or coast guard to secure its waters. Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, As we all know, security and development are mutually reinforcing. The Somalis need to be given hope through rehabilitation; reconstruction and economic development in order to make life more meaningful and worth living. To achieve this, the current Somali government requires massive international support to build a viable economic base and institutions. Accordingly, we wish to remind the international community to accord priority to convening the proposed international Donors’ Conference on reconstruction and development in aid of Somalia. In the meantime, we in the OIC are pleased with the efforts so far being deployed by the government in its internal revenue generation to sustain governance and promote recovery. Furthermore, it must also continue to implement all aspects in the transition programme including the constitutional process, to promote justice and human rights, alleviate poverty and the humanitarian crisis and seek to deliver basic services to the population in order to win their loyalty and enhance its legitimacy. In this context, the role of the diaspora is crucial and important. The Government should be encouraged to evolve a strategy to sensitize, mobilize and use the huge Somali population abroad to promote its overall governance, reconciliation and development programmes as Somalis must be seen to take the lead in the development and reconstruction of their country. May I take this platform to reiterate our unflinching solidarity with the good people of Somalia and to reassure them that the OIC will never abandon supporting their country. In this regard, I have the pleasure to hereby announce that the OIC will open a humanitarian mission in Mogadishu from the beginning of 2010 to assist in the reconstruction of Somalia. We remain determined to honor all our commitments made at the Brussels conference. Accordingly, the OIC Humanitarian Affairs Department along with a coalition of civil society organizations in the Member States will soon commence a $50 million worth of humanitarian projects in the field of poverty alleviation, relief and small scale projects. Furthermore, the Department has concluded negotiations with the UNDP South-South Cooperation Unit on the implementation of multi million dollar programmes in health and education. Finally, as we strive to retain the confidence of the Somalis, the international community must be seen to deliver on its promises as stabilizing Somalia is an invaluable investment in global peace on which we cannot afford to waver nor compromise. In this important peace building project, enormous responsibilities are equally placed on the shoulders of the Somalis themselves and we must all strive individually and collectively to meet our part of the bargain satisfactorily. Let this session in Jeddah produce the desired fruitful outcome that would lay the ground for permanent peace in Somalia. I wish the International Contact Group all success in its deliberations.
