S/PV.6837 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representative of Somalia to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2012/643, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on Somalia. Members of the Council have before them document S/2012/708, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2067 (2012). I now give the floor to the representative of Somalia.

I am very happy that the resolution that the Security Council has just adopted is the result of all the efforts that the Council has made in the past in trying to forge the way for Somalia to achieve a more permanent type of Government. It has been 21 years since we lost most of our sovereignty and our share in the international community’s endeavour for peace and security. Today’s resolution is a landmark and augurs well for our Government and the future of Somalia and for the new President to forge ahead towards peace and security. The new Government’s achievement of this stage not only augurs well for the security of the region but will also help the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. We are therefore very grateful to the international community, the United Nations and especially our neighbours and the African Union Mission in Somalia, which have helped our transitional Government fight against Al-Shabaab, who are allied with Al-Qaida. However, the Council will recognize that the real fight is just starting — the fight for a real nation to emerge from the ruins of destruction to a nationhood that will allow every Somali to be proud of being from that country. I hope that the Security Council, the international community and the United Nations will continue with their efforts to sustain the progress and independence of Somalia so as to truly reach the goals that we all hope will be achieved in the near future. This Government now has four years, and we hope that in those four years at least the structures that have been destroyed and the Government machinery that is not functioning can be put in place as soon as possible. From there on, we hope there will be independent elections in which every person will vote personally, not through selection or through criminal influences. I feel very emotional. I am so excited that I cannot find the appropriate words to express our happiness and that of all Somalis, be they in Somalia or in the diaspora. I hope that that happiness is also shared by the members of the Security Council, who have endeavoured, for the past 21 years, to reach at least this stage of possibility of looking forward.

The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.