Somalia Seeks Greater Engagement By Japan In Peace Building Process

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

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TOKYO (Bernama) -- The visiting foreign minister of the Somali transitional government called Tuesday for greater engagement by Japan in the peace-building process in the African country, which remains a hotbed of Islamist insurgents and pirates, Kyodo news agency reported.

In an interview with Kyodo News, Ali Ahmed Jama Jangeli, the minister of the Somali transitional federal government that was established in 2005, expressed his appreciation for Japan's additional aid of US$35.2 million for purposes such as police assistance and infrastructure maintenance, saying Tokyo is ''showing renewed interest in Somalia and that is very good.''

However, he expressed hope that Japan will expand its areas of assistance and engage in long-term support for the Horn of Africa nation, which he believes has "strategic importance" and is "potentially rich" with many natural resources.

"There are a lot of investment opportunities in the future. We want Japan to be engaged in Somalia now and in the future," said the foreign minister, who is visiting Japan for the first time.

He especially called for Tokyo's help in rebuilding roads, schools and hospitals, and providing water and sanitation in areas where fighting has ceased.

Somalia has been wracked by violence for much of the past 20 years since the collapse of the central government in 1991.

The transitional government is yet to establish effective control over the whole country and has been fighting against the Islamist rebel group al-Shabab, which is believed to be linked to the al-Qaida network. The insurgents control much of southern and central Somalia.

Japan does not recognise the transitional government due to its lack of control over the whole nation but has extended US$85.2 million in aid to Somalia through international organisations since 2007, excluding the fresh support announced by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Monday.

Tokyo has also dispatched vessels to engage in antipiracy operations in the region. The foreign minister pointed out that al-Shabab and pirates are "not only the threat to Somalia but they are the threat to the region and beyond."

"We want everybody to contribute in the fight against pirates and in the fight against these terrorists because they will eventually endanger lives in other places in this global age," he said.

"It's cost-effective to do it now. We're the first line of defense. We must defeat them so that others in the region and beyond are safe."

The minister said he anticipates that the Untied Nations will eventually send a peacekeeping force to replace the current African Union troops, saying the international community has "the responsibility to help us defeat those (rebel) forces."

"We can't do it alone," he said.

In January last year, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that basically agreed on the need to deploy a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia. But the force is yet to be dispatched to the country.

Source: Bernama

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