Britain to host major conference on Somalia
By Sharon Tibenda
21st Nov 2011: British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that the UK will host a conference in London on Somalia in 2012 to pull together international effort. In his speech to the Lord Mayor’s banquet on 14 November, the Prime Minister said that Somalia is a failed state that directly threatens British interests:
“…Tourists and aid workers [are] kidnapped, young British minds [are] poisoned by radicalism, mass migration, [and] vital trade routes [are] disrupted. Meanwhile Somalis themselves suffer extreme famine, made worse by violence and some of the worst poverty on earth. We shouldn’t tolerate this.” Cameron said. The Prime Minister also said Somali pirates aren’t invincible.
“…They are violent and lawless men in small boats and it is time we properly stood up to them. That’s why British vessels can now carry arms…there is a real and pressing need to pull together the international effort. That is why Britain will host a major conference in London next year to focus attention on, protecting merchant ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, tackling pirates, pressurising the extremists, supporting countries in the region, and addressing the causes of conflict and instability in Somalia.” the Prime Minister added.
The conference aims to tackle the underlying causes of these issues and delivering a new international approach to Somalia. It will also form the basis for coordinated and sustained international leadership on Somalia, bringing together international partners and key institutions like the UN and African Union.
Uganda is one of the major contributors to the African Union peace keeping force [AMISOM] in Somalia. The other key contributors are Burundi and Kenya which joined the war recently following a spate of criminal abductions and killing of foreign tourists and aid workers on Kenyan soil. Ethiopia and France are the other countries that are likely to join the war against Islamic militants of Al Shabab as well as pirates operating in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Eden.
The 2012 London conference also aims to generate agreement on how to tackle the shared threats, and support a broader, more inclusive political process to bring security and stability to Somalia. Read the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech. END. Please login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
