NEW YORK, Nov 9 (KUNA) -- UN Security Council adopted unanimously a Britain drafted resolution 2245, establishing the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS).
The UNSOS replaces the United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) that was established in 2009, and has been providing critical logistic and life support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Somali National Army (SNA), the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group.
The resolution that was adopted this morning in a session led by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, requests the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to continue efforts to support the African Union through advice and guidance on the implementation of a system to address allegations of misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse.
During the session, Chef de Cabinet Susana Malcorra addressed the Council on behalf of Ban, where she urged the international community to stand strong with Somalia.
"Next year can be momentous, a peaceful, constitutional transition of power would mark an extraordinary milestone on Somalia's path to democracy," she said.
The new National Consultative Forum is responsible for agreeing on the modalities for the process, therefore Malcorra urged the Federal Government to actively engage as many people as possible, including women, youth and minorities. At the same time, she said, Somalia is consolidating its federal system, "I urge Somali leaders to complete the process by the end of 2016, and also call on them to achieve genuine, inclusive reconciliation in all regions." The Secretary General's Special Representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, also addressed the Council, where he warned that any scaling back on support or resources now will only endanger peace and security in the Horn of Africa and East Africa, bolster violent extremism and risk a renewed exodus of refugees.
On his behalf, the Somalian Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke assured the Council that Somalia's political leadership, both at federal and regional levels, are committed to take forward what is in the best interest of their people and country.
As government, Sarmarke said that they have not done as much on the economic sector in comparison to what was done on the political and security sectors.
"We also alive to the fact that there's much more that still remains to be done and that, as leaders, we are prepared to go the extra mile to register more progress," he affirmed.
On Al-Shabaab group, the Somali official said that their special forces have performed impeccably well in saving lives, in real-time, in the face of Al-Shabaab's complex attacks on civilian business premises, "our intelligence and pre-emptive capacities remained quite wanting." After the session, Hammond told reporters that Britain has long been a big supporter of the reform program that is going on in Somalia, and that his country is the second largest bilateral donor to that country.
The Year "2016 is going to be a very critical year in the recovery of Somalia," he said.
Hammond stressed that the international community "wants and expects" to see a credible elections. He also affirmed that the Federal Government has to show its ability to deliver a fiscally sound budget and run the government to allow the international financial institutions to engage with the country and put in place a support program.
Moreover, he told the press that the Somalian federal government has a responsibility to show that the security sector is affective and can endure coarse to be a substitute for AMISOM.
"UK committed to work with the Somali government to implement and face all challenges that faces them in 2016," he concluded. (end) mao.bs