Brussels, 21/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 21 March, EU27 foreign ministers repeated their deep concerns about the situation in Somalia, be it the political situation, security, delays in economic development or the dire humanitarian situation that is forcing increasing numbers of people to leave their homes.
In a unanimous conclusions document, the EU27 say that the EU strongly deplores the unilateral decision by the transitional Somali government to extend its term of office and urges it to focus on introducing the necessary reforms to become legitimate, representative and credible, reforms that would not include an extension of its terms of office.
The Council says that the EU will introduce criteria to be met by the transitional government from now on in order to receive aid from the EU (including the payment of parliamentarians' salaries), criteria including progress in reform and properly carrying out its work. The EU27 note the importance of improving the constitutional process to bring an end to the period of transition with broad support from the Somali people. The EU ministers stated their full support for the United Nations and called on the Somali authorities to cooperate with Ban Ki-moon's representative, Mahiga, who is carrying out good work at the international contact group on Somalia.
The Council says that the instability in Somalia is an increasing problem not only in terms of the safety of the local population, but also for the region and the rest of the world because of the impact on terrorism, piracy and the proliferation of weapons. (A.N./transl.fl)