Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-04-Speech-4-139"
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"en.20020704.5.4-139"2
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"Thank you, Mr President. Not so long ago, there was a war in Ethiopia, the Ogaden War, and there was a war in the north of Kenya, the Rift War, and the intention of both wars was to unite all Somalis in one country. If we consider the situation today, it has completely changed. The Somalis are fighting each other more than they do other governments in neighbouring countries in order to reunite Somalia.
As it would appear today, the country is breaking up into all kinds of groupings. The most stable area seems to be the north, and what was the subject of consultation two years ago, a transitional national government, in actual fact, came to nothing.
Everyone is now at war with each other, which is a dangerous situation. It means that we in Europe, and other countries in the region, will be receiving many refugees from Somalia, and I do not know whether they will be welcome everywhere. There is also a considerable risk that it is a breeding ground for extremist groupings. We know all too well since 11 September what the implications of that could be.
What can the European Union do in the current situation? In my view, it should first and foremost apply the special rules of the Cotonou Agreement, because we all know that Somalia was unable to sign this agreement and is not a member of it either; but the special provisions will need to be applied in this instance. This means that we would then be able to alleviate human suffering and grant emergency aid, and I gather that that is what the Commission is doing. However, in the regions that enjoy a certain level of stability, we can start repairing and building roads, hospitals, and suchlike, so that some sense of stability will return to the region. Above all, it is up to the Somalis to solve their problems; we could never do this for them.
The role of the neighbouring countries is also crucial. In the light of their past, do they really want Somalia to be reunited? This is something that I very much doubt. Someone has already raised the forthcoming IGAD Conference in Nairobi; if I counted correctly, this is the fourteenth in the course of a decade or so. Let us hope that it will be successful this time round. Given the signs, I am not so optimistic as the previous speakers, but in my view, the Italians still know Somalia better than any other nationality in the EU. I hope that they will be proven right.
It is also up to the European Commission to get the EU Member States, in particular, to sing from the same hymn sheet. I have a feeling that if we look at the United Kingdom’s attitude, or Italy's, these are quite different. The European Commission has some missionary work to do in this area too, for which I wish you every success."@en1
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