Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-15-Speech-4-252"
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"en.20071115.25.4-252"2
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"Madam President, I fully agree with Mr Bowis that, as long as people talk, there is always hope. We consider it very timely to have this wake-up call on Somalia today, since the situation currently poses a significant threat to peace and security, not only in the region but also beyond. It also causes immense suffering for the people of Somalia.
As you know, the Union has taken a lead role in the Somali peace process and the establishment of the transitional federal institutions. We have always strived for a political solution involving all Somali parties, and Commissioner Louis Michel carried out a last-ditch peace mission to rescue the peace process prior to the Ethiopian intervention in December 2006 and has been instrumental in linking EU support to the African Union peace mission to Somalia and to the launch of a genuine National Reconciliation Congress.
We have an unfolding humanitarian disaster and a diminishing humanitarian space in Somalia, including a crackdown on the independent media and journalists, who are dying in targeted killings. The current levels of humanitarian distress in south and central Somalia have reached alarming proportions. An estimated 1.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 730 000 internally displaced persons, of whom one-third are estimated to be at extreme risk. An estimated 173 000 Mogadishu residents fled the violence in the past two weeks alone.
I also wish to inform you that, in response to the current humanitarian crisis, the Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office, ECHO, is working with implementing partners to support 1.5 million people, providing the local population, internally displaced people and host communities with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, drugs and support for livestock and livelihoods. This year, it has allocated the highest ever budget for assistance to Somalia, amounting to EUR 20 million.
We are also very concerned about the evolving security situation in Mogadishu and other regions in south-central Somalia. Insurgency operations appear to be expanding and all parties have significantly increased their military capabilities in the past weeks. The EU is committed to following a multi-pronged approach that entails supporting a comprehensive security strategy, including a ceasefire process and a full deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia that would facilitate Ethiopian withdrawal, and encouraging the nomination of a representative and effective Prime Minister and government while engaging and providing reassurances to the opposition, to facilitate their involvement during the remainder of the transitional period leading up to elections in 2009.The EU will also urge all parties to respect basic human rights and international humanitarian law.
Finally, we need to take into account the regional dimensions of the crisis and engage with Ethiopia and Eritrea, which are fighting a proxy war in Somalia, which risks provoking their own border conflict. The Commission has nominated an EC Special Envoy for Somalia and is driving forward proposals for EU action at the General Affairs and External Relations Council. It remains committed to working closely with the European Parliament to stem violence and to find a political solution to this crisis."@en1
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