Statement by the delegation of Ukraine at the UNSC briefing on the Security Council Committee concerning Somalia and Eritrea

Madame President,

Let me begin by expressing Ukraine’s deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Federal Government of Somalia, with regard to recent terrorist attacks of Al-Shabaab that resulted in numerous casualties among civilian population, including women and children. This is just another confirmation that Al-Shabaab remains the most significant threat to peace and security in Somalia, as it was characterized in Ambassador Umarov’s briefing, for which we are thankful.

In the situation of an on-going drought, Al-Shabaab activities stay in the way of joint efforts to provide much needed humanitarian response. In this regard, we welcome the plan of AMISOM and the Federal Government of Somalia to secure main supply routes to help facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to drought stricken communities in the country.

We also support cooperation between the Somali National Army and AMISOM’ troop-contributing countries in the fight against terrorism. In this respect, we would like to commend the Kenya Defense Forces on their successful operations on the 2 and 26 the of March, in which a total of 84 Al-Shabaab militants were eliminated.

We note that some progress has been made by the Committee, as well as by the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (the SEMG), in achieving goals set out in their respective mandates that led to a significant improvement of arms and ammunition management in the country and a decrease in illicit exports of charcoal from Somalia.

A better coordinated cooperation in this regard by the Federal Government of Somalia, including through its timely and comprehensive notifications to the Committee, has been an important factor contributing to an effective implementation of the sanctions regime in Somalia.

We believe that further joint efforts to ensure full and effective implementation and enforcement of the arms embargo and charcoal ban will substantially limit illegal arms trafficking within and outside of the country, and curb illicit charcoal trade, thus depriving terrorist groups of potential revenues and weapons.

We welcome an active involvement of all international partners, UN member-states, international and regional organizations in providing relevant support to this end. The African Union cooperation has been remarkable in this regard, particularly through AMISOM’s documenting and registering all military equipment discovered and captured, as well as through its assistance to the Somali Federal authorities in implementing the charcoal ban.

Another issue of concern for us is a spate of attacks on commercial vessels off the coast of Somalia, thus highlighting an increase in pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden. There are signs that emergence of piracy could be the result of financing of pirates by entities from regional countries.

In this regard, we would like to ask the SEMG to follow-up on this information and provide its findings in the midterm update to the Committee. We consider this information crucial for prevention and countering piracy and armed robbery at sea.

Furthermore, detailed information on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is also needed to be reflected in the next SEMG report.

We cannot but mention the recent positive changes in Somalia’s state- and peace-building processes. The peaceful elections of the President and of the speakers of both houses of the Somalia’s Parliament, followed by a unanimous endorsement of the country’s new Prime Minister, all resulting in an unprecedented cross-clan support and reconciliation of communities, were important steps towards Somalia’s recovery and stabilization.

We hope that the newly-appointed Council of Ministers of Somalia will suceed in fulfilling its pledges to rebuild the security forces and state institutions, tackle corruption and unify the country.

Madame President,

With regards to Eritrea, we took note that no evidences of the Eritrean support for Al-Shabaab were reported. At the same time, we are perplexed that in some SEMG reports information about Eritrea’s implementation of the Council’s measures is limited to one sentence only.

In this regard, we are looking forward to seeing a comprehensive overview on this matter in the midterm update.

We proceed from understanding that a constructive cooperation of the Eritrean Government would contribute to an effective implementation of the Group’s mandate, which is a precondition for any changes in the sanctions regime.

In this regard, we support the work of the Chair of the Committee on preparing a possible visit to the Horn of Africa and underline the importance of including the SEMG coordinator in the delegation for the benefit of strengthening the result oriented nature of the visit.

I thank you.