S/PV.6959 Security Council

I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute, on behalf of the Council, to His Excellency Mr. Eugène-Richard Gasana, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Rwanda, for his service as President of the Security Council for the month of April 2013. I am sure that I speak for all members of the Council in expressing deep appreciation to Ambassador Gasana and his team for the great diplomatic skill with which they conducted the Council’s business last month. Adoption of the agenda

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/2013/259, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by Australia, France, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, 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/2013/239, which contains a letter dated 19 April 2013 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council, transmitting the results of the Secretary-General’s technical assessment mission to Somalia, pursuant to Security Council resolution 2093 (2013). 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 2102 (2013). I now give the floor to the representative of Somalia.

I fully appreciate the fact that the Council has invited me to be present here today and to witness the adoption of this new and very important resolution 2102 (2013), which, I believe, provides real support for my new Government and facilitates the achievement of its policy of developing Somalia in the areas of, inter alia, governance and security. Mr. President, allow me also to thank your predecessor as well as the incoming Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Nicholas Kay, and to express my appreciation and thanks to Mr. Mahiga, the outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General, for a job well done. I believe that the resolution just adopted ensures that the first steps of the process of support by the United Nations and the Security Council in particular will be truly effective, especially with the proposed United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), which ensures that Somalia and the Government of Somalia will now have only one door for dialogue and for support. We appreciate the Secretary-General’s letter and report (S/2013/239), which ushered in this very important resolution, which we fully endorse. My Government has already expressed its appreciation for the Secretary-General’s letter and report. We are also confident that the Security Council, the international community and all other partners in the development of Somalia’s future will abide by what is clearly expressed here — that the sovereignty of Somalia and the ownership of every action belong to the Federal Government of Somalia, while at the same time the regional authorities must also be consulted. We welcome the emphasis on coordination and urgent action, and we hope in particular that the conference to be held in London on 7 May will enable us to garner some resources, both human and financial, so that the Government of Somalia can implement its mandates, in cooperation and coordination with UNSOM and our international partners. That said, I hope that we will soon see, within the year we have been granted by the Security Council in which to report back, that this year will bring the opening of opportunities for Somalia’s development.

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