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AU Pledges to Keep Peace in Somalia

Business Day (Johannesburg)
NEWS
October 15, 2004
Posted to the web October 15, 2004

By Stephen Mbogo
Johannesburg
THE African Union (AU) has warned Somali warlords who refuse to recognise the
new transitional government that they will not be allowed to disrupt the making
of a new Somalia.
"The A U is ready to play a major role in restoring peace and security in
Somalia," said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, chairman of the AU.
Obasanjo told Somalians and African leaders attending the swearing-in ceremony
of new Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Nairobi, Kenya, that the
success of Africans in finding an African solution to the Somali problem would
not be allowed to go to waste.
Yusuf, a 69-year-old career soldier and former president of the autonomous
northeastern region of Puntland which declared its independence from Somalia in
1998 was elected on Sunday to form the first central government in 13 years.
His election was preceded by the formation of a 275-member parliament in
September.
The new leadership will take Somalia through a five-year transition period,
during which democratic elections will be held.
The new political dispensation in Somalia follows two years of peace
negotiations in Kenya, under the auspices of the InterGovernmental Authority on
Development (Igad) , made up of six Horn of Africa countries.
"This time, Igad will not allow warlords to mess around with peace ( in
Somalia) ," said Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the authority's chairman .
"The conflict in Somalia crystal is es the African problem in a dramatic way,"
he said.
"While people always say the problem with Africa is tribalism, the Somali
people are of one tribe. The problem with Africa, like in Somalia, therefore is
underdevelopment."
He said Africans were ready to make financial contributions at a personal level
if the international community delayed in mobilis ing resources to rebuild
Somalia.
Figures given by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki revealed that since the war
started 13 years ago, 500000 people had died; 2-million had been displaced; 90%
of school buildings had been destroyed; only 17% of children go to school; and
70% of Somalia's 10-million people live below the poverty line.
Kibaki said the AU and international community had a moral obligation to assist
in building Somalia, particularly to provide resources to demobilise hundreds
of thousands of militias. Yusuf made a similar pledge for international support
in restoring peace, which he called the "next major challenge" for Somalia.
Yusuf was born on December 15 1934. He studied law at the Somali National
University, proceeded to the former Soviet Union's Frunze War College to study
military topography , and received military training in Italy.
He served as Somalia's military attaché to Moscow between 1965 and 1968.
The venue of the swearing-in ceremony, a sports complex on the outskirts of
Nairobi, was filled with thousands of Somali refugees living in Kenya.
"We are happy it has come this far. Never again shall we allow Somalia to
disintegrate," said Amina Abdi, a widowed former high school teacher.

   

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