S/PV.8494 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. Members of the Council have before them document S/2019/266, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 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.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2461 (2019). I now give the floor to members of the Council who wish to make a statement.

Today’s vote on resolution 2461 (2019), supporting the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), underscores the strong and continued commitment of the international community to supporting peace, stability and development in Somalia. UNSOM remains a critical partner to the Federal Government of Somalia and the federal member states in bringing about political, security and economic stability to the Horn of Africa region. We appreciate the efforts of the penholder in renewing this mandate. The United States believes that an UNSOM mandate that precisely delineates the United Nations roles and responsibilities and that avoids language unrelated to the United Nations Mission is needed in order to foster a clear understanding among all partners of the Security Council’s expectations in Somalia. However, given the context of the resolution and the United Nations activities in Somalia, we believe that the fifteenth preambular paragraph and operative paragraph 21 should focus specifically on assessing risks and developing risk-management strategies related to the impacts of drought, desertification and food and water scarcity, rather than on any particular potential cause of those impacts, such as climate change. The United States supports the inclusion of language in the UNSOM resolution that highlights the adverse effects of specific natural disasters on the stability of Somalia. Droughts, desertification, land degradation, food insecurity and ecological changes can all negatively impact the stability of any nation. We can and should ask the United Nations and Governments to consider those implications as part of their planning. We support the work of the United Nations to undertake risk assessment and risk management strategies, and the Security Council’s role in addressing specific challenges such as droughts, desertification, land degradation, food insecurity and ecological changes.

I now give the floor to the representative of Somalia.

At the outset, I would like to offer my prayers and heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya, New Zealand and my own country, Somalia, which injured and took the lives of many innocent civilians, including my brother Saqar Ibrahim Abdalla, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. We mourn together and stand in solidarity to fight the menace of faceless, borderless, international terrorism. I would like to congratulate you, Madam President, on your country’s assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for the month of March. I also thank you for organizing this meeting with a view to adopting resolution 2461 (2019) and renewing the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). We welcome this unanimous adoption and appreciate the support and constructive engagement of the Council members committed to supporting Somalia and the Government’s efforts to tackle the many complex challenges it faces. The resolution adopted today provides essential assistance to our Government and can facilitate the achievement of our policy of developing Somalia in, among other areas, political inclusiveness, governance, economic development and security. I would like to take this opportunity to express to Secretary-General António Guterres our great appreciation for his personal commitment on behalf of Somalia and its people, as well as to assure him of our full cooperation and support for the United Nations system. We believe that the resolution adopted today will ensure that the support of the United Nations, the Security Council and, particularly UNSOM, will be truly effective. The work of the United Nations is based on respect and cooperation between the Organization and the host country at various levels. We look forward to upholding those principles. We are confident that the Security Council, the international community and all other partners involved in the development of Somalia’s future agree that Somalia’s problems require Somali solutions. Therefore, increasing local ownership and utilizing our country system are important components in building our State capacity in order to maintain security and achieve economic stability, as well as to ensure growth and the delivery of public services. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of utilizing our country system, now the development of our State institutions and transparency, accountability, as well as the coordination among all stakeholders, have improved significantly. Today our people want more than ever for Somalia to take its rightful place in the community of nations. With that, expect more cooperation based on mutual respect. The Somali people demand that we continue to assume responsibility for our own decisions and shaping our future. We firmly believe that our legitimacy and, ultimately, the impact of our decisions depend upon the wishes and the interests of our people.