SRSG Draws Support for Dialogue in Baidoa and Mogadishu
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Nairobi, 26 July - The visit of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative (SRSG) to Somalia yesterday drew support from opposing camps in Baidoa and Mogadishu to continue a dialogue that opened in Khartoum on 20 June.

The SRSG, Francois Lonseny Fall, met with Somali President, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, in Baidoa and with Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) in Mogadishu. In Baidoa, President Yusuf said he would send a delegation of 15 to Khartoum on 1-2 August, and in Mogadishu, Shekh Ahmed agreed to consider sending another delegation to Khartoum, but only after he had consulted with his peace delegation which had just returned to Mogadishu.

After driving for miles through city streets and neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, Ambassador Fall commended the Islamic Courts for improving security in the city. Ambassador Fall traveled through the city without a military escort from the Islamic Courts. The city seemed peaceful, with people and vehicles moving about freely. Apart from one or two Islamic Court patrol vehicles, there were no militiamen, technicals, weapons or roadblocks in sight. Ambassador Fall also announced that a UN humanitarian team would visit Mogadishu soon to begin operationalizing humanitarian assistance for Internally Displaced Persons and others in need.

SRSG to Visit Baidoa and Mogadishu
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Nairobi, 25 July - The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, left Nairobi for Baidoa and Mogadishu early today (Tuesday) on a mission to ease tensions between leaders of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts (SCIC).

Ambassador Fall was scheduled to meet with Somali President, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, in Baidoa and with Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the (SCIC) in Mogadishu.

UN Special Representative Appeals for Restraint in Somalia
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Nairobi 20 July - The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, today urged leaders of the Transitional Federal Government and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts to restrain their forces. He urged both sides to resume the dialogue opened in Khartoum on 22 June.

“I appeal to both sides to respect the ceasefire and other provisions of the Khartoum agreement, including their commitment to refrain from any provocations that could lead to an escalation of the situation,” he said. “The place to deal with differences is at the negotiating table.”

Special Representative Briefs UN Security Council
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New York 11 July - The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, told members of the United Nations Security Council yesterday that the rise of ‘hardliners’ within the Islamic Courts poses a serious threat to the peace process and to the country’s Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) in particular.

Ambassador Fall told the Council that expectations raised by the 22 June Khartoum meeting between the three main leaders of the TFIs and a delegation of the Islamic Courts, under the auspices of the League of Arab States, had been quickly eroded by cease-fire violations.

Ambassador Fall also noted that the humanitarian situation in the country remained grave. Coping mechanisms were overstretched and southern Somalia would remain in a state of humanitarian emergency at least until December 2006. Among the worst affected, were some 250,000 Somalis now internally displaced within Mogadishu itself.

Report on Somalia urges support for Transitional Federal
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New York 7 July – The Transitional Federal Government must be strengthened so that painstaking gains made in Somalia are not lost, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released today.

“Effective transitional federal institutions will enable Somalia to strengthen its internal security and deal with such threats as terrorism,” Mr. Annan said.

Mr. Annan also noted that the humanitarian situation in the country remained alarming despite plentiful spring rains. Some 2.1 million people were affected by Somalia’s worst drought in a decade, he said.

The Secretary General's analysis of political and humanitarian developments since February will be formally presented to the Security Council next week by his Special Representative, François Lonsény Fall.

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