Brussels, 19/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - The international Contact Group on Somalia, welcomed in Brussels on 17 July by the European Commission represented by Louis Michel, expresses its grave concern about the continuing conflict in the Horn of Africa country and calls on all parties to respect the ceasefire concluded in Khartoum on 22 June, ensuring that the humanitarian agencies have unrestricted and safe access to the vulnerable communities requiring assistance.
Created at the initiative of the United States, the Contact Group met for the first time in June in New York. The press release with the results of this second meeting calls for immediate intra-Somali dialogue to broaden participation in the Transitional Federal Institutions and to discuss concrete issues such as the establishment of regional and local administrations and security sector issues. The members of the Contact Group (EU, Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, United States, Tanzania, Arab League and African Union) are willing to support an effective security sector in Somalia on the basis of a sustainable peace process. They urge the Security Council to rapidly envisage modifying the arms embargo to allow training, capacity building and the formation of a security sector that is sufficiently broad to be representative, and which is based on constructive dialogue between all the parties. At the same time, the Group stresses the need for the arms embargo to be respected by all.
“The European Union has consistently supported the dialogue between the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) and the Islamic Courts to put an end to 15 years of instability and humanitarian crisis and to peacefully resolve differences for Somalia to return to the community of nations. The Commission remains strongly committed to support the Transitional Federal Institutions financially and politically as the only legitimate framework for Governance in Somalia”.