Boosting of UN role to be gradual and based on consensus

Recent progress in efforts to restore peace and stability in Somalia is likely to require the boosting of the UN's role in that country, the UN Security Council said on Tuesday, adding that the strengthening of the world body's involvement would be gradual and based on consultations with the new government.

"The Security Council shares the Secretary-General's assessment that, 'at this stage of progress in the Somali peace process, there will likely be a call for an expanded peace-building role and presence for the United Nations, in order that it may assist the Somali parties in implementing their agreement'," the Council said in a statement read by its president for October, Emyr Jones Parry of Britain.

"At the same time, it is clear that any enhanced role for the Organization in Somalia must be incremental, and should be based on the outcome of discussions with the new government," the Council added.

Somalia's newly elected President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was inaugurated in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 14 October, a move widely seen as the culmination of a two-year reconciliation conference in Kenya that brought together representatives from Somalia's various clans and factions. The peace talks were sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

The new president is expected to appoint a prime minister before the new administration moves to Somalia. The president and his government have a five-year mandate, after which, general elections will be held in Somalia.

In its statement on Tuesday, the Security Council reiterated "its commitment to a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the situation in Somalia, and its respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia, consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

It welcomed efforts by the UN, the European Union, the League of Arab States and other donor states to development a "rapid assistance package" for Somalia and urged the international community to support the package, as well as emergency rehabilitation and economic development programmes in the Horn of Africa country.

The Security Council said it "urges the Somali leaders to create a favourable environment for the future Transitional Federal Government by making determined efforts to bring about improvements in the security situation on the ground and reiterates that those who persist on the path of confrontation and conflict will be held accountable." It added: "The Council will continue to monitor the situation closely."

Somalia ceased to function as a state in 1991 when armed groups overthrew the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre, precipitating a ruinous civil war that saw rival warlords and their militias carve the country into fiefdoms.