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After a closed-door session on Somalia on Monday, the UN Security Council held an extensive open debate on the situation in the country, a UN report said. Over 20 countries took part in the meeting which, among other issues, discussed "ways of promoting the national reconciliation process".
Jordan's ambassador to the UN, Zeid Ra'ad Zeid, who spoke on behalf of the Arab group of states, underscored the importance of the Arta process (which set up the Transitional National Government), while at the same urging support for the interim government "in its efforts to promote a comprehensive reconciliation process and national unity".
Zeid called on the Council to send a fact-finding mission to Somalia to begin the process of "setting up an observation mechanism to verify the arms embargo", imposed by Security Council resolution 733 in 1992.
The Spanish ambassador, Inocencio F. Arias, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated states, said he welcomed the proposed Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting on Somalia, to be held in late April in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. He stressed that the parties must put aside their differences and participate in the talks "without preconditions and with a genuine resolve to complete the national reconciliation". Arias also stressed the importance of resolution 733, calling on all countries to comply with its terms.
Addressing the Council, Ambassador Richard S. Williamson of the US also called on the Somali parties to attend the April reconciliation conference "without reservations and preconditions". According to a US mission press release, Williamson urged all neighbouring countries to "play a constructive role in efforts aimed at Somalia political reconciliation". He said they should encourage all the Somali parties to attend the conference "and approach it with the goal of fostering political stability in Somalia".
"We believe that ultimately, the Somali people control their own political destiny, and must choose to lay down their arms and end the interminable cycle of violence that has engulfed Somalia since 1991," he stated. "Nonetheless we also recognise that the international community and we must also do our part."
[See also IRIN story of 12 March headlined "SOMALIA: Disappointment over UN report"]
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