Convinced by the progress achieved in a year by the Somali federal government in terms of political, security, economic and democratic reforms, the 60 or so delegations that took part in the second ministerial meeting of the Somalia Partnership Forum renewed their political and financial support, in Brussels on Tuesday 17 July, for the fulfilment of the priorities listed in Somalia's national transition plan, for the coming years.
The degree of commitment, shown by Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, was convincing and the call he launched for the strengthening of international support for the implementation of this plan was heard during this meeting that he co-chaired with the EU and Sweden (see EUROPE 12064).
The €200 million in stabilisation assistance (including €100 million for strengthening state capacities) is intended for "support to the inclusive political agenda and economic recovery", High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated at the end of the meeting.
New EU support for AMISOM. An amount of €114.2 million will be added to this in support of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Mogherini stated.
She also said that the EU has disbursed €1.6 billion in total, to support this African peacekeeping mission since it started. Mogherini furthermore spoke of "the three EU security missions (Ed:EUTM, EUNAVFOR Atalanta and EUCAP Somalia) active in the country".
Commenting on the €89.5 million in humanitarian aid announced ahead of this meeting (see EUROPE 12061), European Commissioner for Humanitarian Assistance and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides reiterated that the EU had already mobilised €120 million in emergency aid for Somalia in 2017, and he underlined the importance of aid for the education of displaced and refugee children.
"Our objective remains the same – to help create a better future for Somalia and its people. That is why we are investing in the education of Somali children", he said.
In their final statement, Somalia's partners recognise the recent positive and historic developments in the Horn of Africa and the strengthened commitment between the leaders of the region, who are creating new opportunities for reconciliation, stability and regional cooperation and economic integration. They state that this window of opportunity "must be seized by all Somali actors" and they call for "the international community to contribute to this".
Somalia's partners especially commend the president's commitment to organise multi-party elections in 2020. The commitments of the members of the Partnership Forum will cover: - inclusive politics; - security; - resilience, economic recovery and humanitarian assistance; - gender and human rights issues.
A commitment was taken by the participants to review progress in three months' time and to begin preparations for the next meeting of the Forum, which will be held in six months' time.
As regards development aid, the EU has committed (indeed part has already been disbursed) €286 million for Somali for the 2014-2020 period, including €100 million for the consolidation of the state, €86 million for food security and strengthening resilience, €60 million for education, €14 million for civil society and €26 million in support measures. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)