S/PV.6929 Security Council

At the outset of the meeting, I should like, on behalf of the members of the Security Council, to express our deepest sympathy to the Government and people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in connection with the death of President Hugo Chávez Frías, on 5 March 2013. May I ask the members of the Security Council to join me in observing a minute of silence to honour the memory of the deceased Venezuelan President.

Under 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. Members of the Council have before them document S/2013/132, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by France, Togo, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2013/69, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on Somalia. It is my understanding that the Security Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. If I hear no objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2093 (2013). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements after the voting.

Guatemala voted in favour of resolution 2093 (2013) given the importance of supporting the efforts of the Government of Somalia, the United Nations and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Thanks to such collective efforts, Somalia now has new prospects. Similarly, we support the extension of AMISOM’s mandate until 28 February 2014. We think that the resolution just adopted provides for an orderly process of integration and strengthening of the United Nations presence in Somalia. We also acknowledge the significant progress made in stabilizing and pacifying the country, or at least parts of it, including its main urban centre. However, we wish to place on record that we believe that the progress made does not yet justify the lifting of the arms embargo alluded to in paragraph 33 of the resolution. We believe that the Security Council should have adopted a phased approach in order to prevent the possible repercussions of a sudden suspension of the embargo from subsequently jeopardizing the stabilization efforts in Somalia. That is another way of saying that our delegation supported the recommendations of the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group on the issue. They provided Somalia the ability to develop its security sector without having to modifying the arms embargo. We trust that, with the adoption of this resolution, the international community will redouble its commitment to accelerating security sector reform in Somalia and will support it in establishing the necessary safeguards for an already operational system that ensures adequate arms control.

At the outset, I would like to convey our most heartfelt condolences to the family and to the people and Government of the sisterly Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the death of their President, Hugo Chávez Frías. The ideals of solidarity with the continent that he embodied are an inspiration for the Latin American and Caribbean region. Argentina supported the adoption of resolution 2093 (2013), which is a vote of confidence in the Government of Somalia given the improvement in the security situation in that country and its progress in implementing the road map, establishing the new Parliament and electing President Mohamud. That relative progress was achieved under the arms embargo. We therefore trust that the future acquisition of weapons by the Federal Government of Somalia does not hamper the provision of resources necessitated by the complex and urgent humanitarian situation in Somalia. Argentina also hopes that the measures for monitoring the destination and use of weapons provided for in the resolution are effective, reliable and efficient. The eyes of the Council and of the entire international community are on Somalia. We hope and trust that within a year, when the time comes to consider the renewal of the partial lifting of the arms embargo, we will be able to say that we have done the right thing

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