The top United Nations official for Somalia voiced disappointment
today at the transitional parliament's extension of its mandate by
three years beyond the August deadline by which it was to enact a new
constitution and hold general elections in the war-torn country.
Somalia has not had a functioning central government for 20 years and
has been riven by factional fighting, currently between the
internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG),
supported by a UN-backed African Union (AU) peacekeeping force
(AMISOM), based in Mogadishu, the capital, and Al Shabaab and other
Islamist groups, which control much of the country, especially in the
south.
"This is a disappointing decision taken in haste without the required
level of discussion and consultation on how to end the transition and
on the next political dispensation after 20 August 2011,"
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Somalia,
Augustine P. Mahiga, said in a statement.
"The Somali people deserve and expect to see change. It is the
responsibility of the TFIs [transitional authorities] to implement
this change in consultation with major entities representing the
Somali people and key partners of the international community," he
added.
Mr. Mahiga said the UN and its partners, the AU and the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional development
organization in eastern Africa, would meet jointly with Somalia's
transitional leadership as soon as possible to discuss the way forward
while ensuring stability and change.
Last week, Mr. Mahiga noted that there was "unanimous agreement both
inside and outside Somalia" that the transitional period had to end in
August as envisaged under the Djibouti Agreement, a UN-facilitated
peace process that began in 2008 and was embraced by some Islamist
militias but not by several others who continue a war that wreaks
daily havoc on civilians, especially in Mogadishu.
He acknowledged then that several tasks remain to be completed by
August such as continuing initiatives on reconciliation, building
civilian and security institutions and the completion of the
constitution-making process.
Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reported today that at least 7,600 people reported weapons-related
injuries in 2010 in Mogadishu, an average of more than 20 a day,
making it the worst year in a decade for civilian casualties. One in
five injured was a child.
The Somali capital is without doubt one of the most deadly cities
anywhere, a UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards, told a
<"http://www.unhcr.org/4d4bd2296.html">news briefing in Geneva.
Just last Monday, at least 15 people were killed and some 50 injured
in clashes involving the transitional government's forces, close to
Banadir Hospital in south-west Mogadishu. UNHCR is appalled by the
loss of civilian lives and the complete disregard shown for their
safety, Mr. Edwards said. Last year hundreds of Somalis were killed in
the capital.
Some 4,200 Somalis have been forced to flee their homes in Mogadishu
since the start of January and UNHCR estimates that 1.5 million people
are displaced within the country, many in areas inaccessible to
humanitarian workers. More than 650,000 are living as refugees in
neighbouring countries.
Somalia remains one of the worst and most alarming humanitarian crises
that UNHCR faces, generating the largest number of refugees and
displaced in the world after Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Edwards said.
He added that UNHCR – as part of the UN humanitarian community in
Somalia, again and in the strongest of terms – urges all armed groups
and forces in the capital to make the protection of civilians a top
priority.
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