New consensus on "time to do more"

Consensus emerged among Horn of Africa countries and some UN Security Council members that "the time had come to do more about Somalia" during an informal meeting of the Council on Wednesday, a statement from the head of the UN Political Office for Somalia, David Stephen, said on Thursday. "Most countries were now agreed that a future process should be more closely tied to Somali society", Stephen added, describing a feeling at the Security Council meeting "of the need to prevent a repeat of the international community's empowerment of Somali warlords, and to build up the forces of civil society." The Somali people were concerned about "the absence of leadership and representation in international bodies", and, in recent months, about "the effects of the war between neighbouring Ethiopia and Eritrea, with allegations that both sides were arming different factions inside Somalia", he added.