Prague, 08/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - Members of the European Parliament and parliamentarians from the ACP countries (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) met in Prague for a joint parliamentary assembly (JPA) meeting, where they explained on 7 April 2009 that they were encouraged by the political progress achieved in Somalia since December 2008. The determination of the transition government headed by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the expanded transition parliament to continue the Djibouti peace process has been unanimously welcomed, but everyone agrees that much work remains if peace and stability are to be restored to this country that operates without the rule of law and has been plunged into chaos after more than seventeen years of violent conflict between armed groups and one of the worst humanitarian and security crises in the world, explain the parliamentarians. A theatre of serious violations of human rights, Somalia is also the victim of piracy off its coastline, piracy that is a threat to the entire region. In an emergency resolution to be adopted on Thursday 9 April, the European and ACP parliamentarians explain that urgent tangible and coordinated support is required from the international community to deal with the priorities agreed upon by the Somalis, namely political security, restoring human rights and strengthening institutions. This will be a crucial stage in moving towards a properly functioning government in Somalia, add the EU and ACP politicians.
The Joint Parliamentary Assembly calls on all politicians and stakeholders present in Somalia to take part in the peace process and refrain from any new acts of violence. The new Somali leaders are urged to design and introduce a programme to restore viable institutions in the expanded timeframe introduced by extending the transitional federal charter until August 2011.
The MEPs and ACP politicians ask the international community to step up the United Nations arms embargo and increase controls at ports and airports to ensure illegal weapons cannot find their way into the country.
All parties in the conflict are urged to cease attacking civilians and to halt the death threats, rape, arbitrary arrests, kidnappings, intimidation and looting of civilians. The JPA asks the European Commission and Council to get involved in work to ensure that effective sanctions are enforced on those guilty of such crimes. The United Nations Security Council is asked to increase its monitoring of the human rights situation, to provide aid to the transitional federal institutions and to support human rights activists in Somalia. The JPA wants the United Nations secretary general to rapidly set up a special support fund for the African Union in Somalia (AMISOM). The JPA urgently requests that AMISOM and any United Nations peacekeeping missions taking over from AMISOM be given the mandate of protecting civilians and have the ability to inspect, investigate and report human rights violations. The JPA strongly condemns all acts of piracy and armed robbery, approving of the deployment of EU ships under the Atalanta operation and calling for Atalanta to be coordinated with US, Russian and Chinese naval forces present in the area. The JPA calls on the transition institutions in Somalia to deal with piracy and armed robbery of ships carrying humanitarian supplies as criminal acts which must be tackled. It asks the European Commission to carry out an in-depth investigation into the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia in order to support the attempt to bring those responsible for these environmental crimes to justice. The JPA strongly condemns illegal fishing off the Somali coastline and urges the EU to clamp down on it.
During the debate, a representative of Sudan pointed out that the situation had been dire for the Somali population for a full seventeen years and the international community seems to have just abandoned the country to its fate. He said the European Union should use more than just weapons to defend the coastline and should take part in the peace negotiations, adding that peace was needed, like in Djibouti.
Filip Kaczmarek (EPP, Poland) said that the conflicts had had a serious impact on many countries. Calling for people to think of the Somalians, he said that no solution could last if it were forced on the country from the outside.
People should listen to the women of Somalia, said Gambian parliamentarian Netty Baldeh, referring to a workshop organised with Somali women during the JPA. Baldeh said the women said that piracy was mainly a problem of young fishermen who had left their community and had become fighters that hired themselves out as mercenaries to the highest bidders. These young men are trying to get what they think is rightfully theirs and the real problem is unemployment and the non-existence of the state, they add. More can be done than simply relying on the air force and the navy. Michael Gahler (EPP-ED, Germany) said that piracy demonstrated that it was no longer possible for people to survive and fisheries agreements had to avoid illegal fishing to ensure the fishermen can fish. He called for agreements to be considered in addition to the Djibouti process to ensure that humanitarian aid can get to the country.
Marie-Arlette Carlotti (PES, France) stressed the problems of Somali refugees at the Kenyan border, who were coming under attack from the Kenyan police. She said that Kenya should punish the policemen in question and land must be allocated to set up new refugees camps. In addition, she said, the United Nations must respond urgently to the needs of the refugees, the numbers of whom are expected to increase.
Ali Sobaneh Atteyeh, a parliamentarian from Djibouti, said the introduction of a transition government demonstrated Somalians' desire to find their own solution. Atteyeh called on the international community, the European Union and the ACP to support and back the transition government so that it can meet expectations. Ethiopia's ambassador to Brussels, Berhane Gebre Christos, said that Somalia had been a problem in the region for nearly two decades and unless the international community took action, the problem would impact on the security of shipping routes across the entire region. The ambassador pointed out that the international community had reacted when its trading interests were threatened and they had to provide very costly protection for shipping, but had missed golden opportunities before that and the UN Security Council should fulfil its responsibilities and send in a peace-keeping force.
Philippe Morillon (ALDE, France) said that at a hearing of the European Parliament's fisheries committee that he chairs, attended by the chief of staff of the Atalanta operation, it had emerged that Atalanta did not have sufficient resources to deter the pirates. He said extra air patrol resources were required in addition to the base in Djibouti, with new bases in Mombassa and Mahe on the Seychelles Islands.
Marie-Hélène Aubert (Greens, France) said that rather than monitoring ships carrying humanitarian aid (which is not a long-term solution to the problem of piracy), it would make more sense to carry out more inspections of fishing vessels plundering the marine resources in the area and the ships tipping toxic waste into the sea. Asked to take the podium, the president of Somalia's transition government, Sheikh Adam Mohammad Nour, thanked the assembly for putting Somalia on the agenda. He said the country was at a critical stage because the crisis was now affecting the whole of the rest of the world. This would have enormous costs for the merchant navy and the protection costs would also be huge. He said he thought the solution was to pursue the reconciliation process and the opposition had to enter dialogue with the government. Security forces are also required, he pointed out. Wilkie Rasmussen, joint-chair of the meeting, said this was the first time that a Somali representative had addressed the JPA, seeing this as an encouraging sign.
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development, said the JPA resolution reflected all the challenges that had to be taken up and that although the situation was fragile and ambiguous, it was the best in seventeen years. Politically, he said, the only solution is positive, inclusive dialogue, which is what the President of Somalia also wants. The European Commission is the biggest provider of funding (an average of €80 million a year) and is still investing in three areas - inclusive dialogue and setting up institutions; security (the most urgent area); and continuing to supply humanitarian aid to refugees. A donor conference for Somalia will be held on 22 and 23 April 2009 to help reinforce AMISOM, including through the provision of police forces. (A.N./transl.fl)