Remarks by Ambassador Dai Bing at the UN Security Council Briefing on Somalia

2024-10-03 10:40  Print

President, 


I welcome His Excellency Ahmed Moallin Fiqi Ahmed, Foreign Minister of Somalia, to today’s meeting. I thank Acting Special Representative James Swan and Special Representative Mohammed El-Amine Souef for their briefings. I have also listened to the statement by Ms. Ilwad Elman. 


In recent years, Somalia has made important headway in national reconstruction and peace and security. Both the UN and AU missions have entered a critical transition period. At this important stage, the support and assistance of the international community cannot relax. I would like to emphasize the following three points. 


First, maintaining the overall situation of political stability. Recently, the Federal Government of Somalia has maintained communication with the governments of federal member states and reached important consensus on the constitution, elections, and political parties. This deserves our recognition. We expect all Somali parties to keep up the momentum, strengthen dialogue and unity, and stay committed to resolving differences through dialogue. China has consistently supported the efforts of the Federal Government of Somalia to safeguard national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The international community should support Somalia in exploring a development path that suits its national conditions, and provide guarantees for Somalia to embark on the path of long-term and stable development. 


Second, strengthening the foundation of security transition. The Secretary-General’s report notes an increase in attacks on civilians and civilian casualties in Somalia, which shows that terrorism still poses a major security threat. China fully recognizes Somalia’s efforts to combat terrorism and calls on the international community to provide more support for security capacity building in Somalia. 


In the next phase, ATMIS will transition into a new AU mission. We hope that Somalia, the AU, the UN, and others will strengthen their communication and coordination to reach consensus on new mission arrangements and to ensure the smooth progress of the relevant work. Under-funding is an important challenge to AU missions’ mandate performance. China calls on the EU and other traditional donors to maintain their funding for the new mission and continue to contribute to the security and stability of Somalia. The Council should respond to the initiative of the AU and actively study various effective options to provide sustainable and predictable financial support for the new mission. 


Third, advancing UNSOM transition in an orderly manner. Over the years, the political transition in Somalia has continued to move forward, and the governance has continued to improve. UNSOM has done a great deal of work to this end. The Government of Somalia has repeatedly called for the transition of UNSOM to a UN country team, and has recently submitted a two-year transition proposal to the Council. The Council should use this as a base and, in line with Somalia’s national development priorities, adjust and streamline UNSOM’s mandate, with a view to ensuring a smooth and orderly transition. 


President, 


China supports the peace and development process in Somalia, as well as the enhancement of Somalia’s capacity for autonomous development, counter-terrorism, and stability. We will continue to provide support to international peacekeeping operations in Somalia. At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last month, China announced the implementation of action for a mine-free Africa. Recently, the first batch of projects have been launched in Somalia to enhance its capacity for mine detection, and mine risk education, among others. We are ready to work with the rest of the international community to continue to contribute to the realization of lasting peace and sustainable development in Somalia. 


Thank you, President.