UN welcomes Kismayu reconciliation conference
The United Nations through its special representative office for Somalia UNSOM has welcomed peace and reconciliation conference that started in the southern port city of Kismayu on Tuesday.
The Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations for Somalia Fatiha Serour has described the peace conference that has seen the president and senior government officials’ attendance as a positive step towards consolidating peace in the region and furthering Somalia’s state-building process.
“This reconciliation process is important as an avenue to develop a roadmap for the Interim Jubba Administration to continue to build its capacity – there are milestones that must be achieved in order to move forward with the state formation process,” she said.
“The people and leaders of the Interim Jubba Administration clearly desire peace, and this reconciliation process is a manifestation of those wishes,” she added.
The Deputy special representative has also thanked the Federal Government of Somalia, the Leaders of the Interim Jubba Administration as well as international partners, including the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Japan, the European Union, Turkey and Italy, for making the reconciliation conference possible and supporting Somalia’s peace-building process and reconciliation efforts.
“I urge participants to create an environment that allows the conference to develop resolutions that are inclusive of all stakeholders – particularly women, youth and elders, regardless of social or economic status and contribute to Somalia’s wider peace- and state-building processes,” said DSRSG.
The conference, officially opened on Tuesday 16 September by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and its aimed to build on the gains made at the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement in August 2013 and at the Jubba Reconciliation Conference in Mogadishu in November 2013.
Somalireport24.com
