Turkey is building schools across Somalia to restart an education system that has been dormant for over 20 years of conflict. Photo by Will Swanson

By Kyle Westawa
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Two flags now fly over Mogadishu. There’s the Somali one, of course: white star, blue background. The other’s rise over the battered concrete sprawl is more recent. It flies over schools and hospitals, is stamped on trucks and painted on trash bins. The white-and-red emblem even shares the desk of the city’s mayor.“The Turkish are giving the kind of support we have never seen before. They are changing the face of Mogadishu,” says Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud.

The two nations’ flags were flapping in the breeze side-by-side above the Mogadishu airstrip on August 19, 2011, when Turkish Prime MinisterTayyip Erdogan touched down for the first visit by a non-African head of state in nearly two decades. At the time, thousands of Somalis were dying each day in the middle of the worst famine in over half a century, yet foreign dignitaries dared not enter.
That year, Erdogan pledged $49 million to Somalia. In 2012, Turkey spent $70 million on full scholarships to over 1,200 Somali students to study in Turkish universities, making Turkey the largest non-OECD donor in Somalia. And private Turkish citizens donated $365 million on top.
Turkey claims its revamping an outmoded and inefficient aid system, and, in the process, improving more lives.
“Big western donors work through the UN agencies with bureaucracy and high administration costs,” says Kani Torun, Turkish Ambassador to Somalia. “But we use the money to directly support Somalis, and the government of Turkey covers all the administration fees.”
The Somali government says the difference is evident: just look at the results, says President Mohamud. “They are creating modern hospitals and establishing the education system. This cannot be delivered through NGOs and through UN agencies. Bilateral aid is what Somalia needs,” he said.

Dumpsters from the city of Istanbul, which is leading sanitation operations in Mogadishu. Photo by Will SwansonWill Swanson
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At his office, the Mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Nur, continued the argument.

Compare the Turkish approach to the UN approach, he said.

“If I request computers from the UN, they will take months and require a number of assessments. They will spend $50,000 to give me $7,000 of equipment. If I request computers from Turkey, they will show up next week.” At this crucial moment of transition from chaos to tentative stability, this immediate impact is what Somalia needs most, he said.

But not all are enamored with the bold new initiatives of the Turks. Some donorscomplain a lack of coordination with the rest of foreign aid institutions results at times in duplicating efforts.

“If the UN Agencies want to coordinate, then come to Mogadishu and we can coordinate,” Ambassador Torun responds. “But we can’t spend all of our time going to meetings in Nairobi when our work is here in Mogadishu.”

Most Western agencies continue to base their Somali operations out of Nairobi, Kenya, citing longstanding security concerns. Turkey knows the risks well; in July, six people died when US-designated terrorist group al-Shabab attacked the Turkish embassy. The Turks stayed nonetheless.

Turkey stands to benefit from its more engaged approach here as the Somali government returns the favor. The Somali government recently awarded a Turkish company, Favori LLC, the contract to renovate, maintain and operate the Mogadishu airport for the next 20 years. And although the Somalia government signed its first new oil exploration deal with a British company, the minister of natural resources, Abdirisak Omar Mohamed, noted that he would have awarded it to the Turks “if Turkey was willing to sign a contract, but Turkey never came and asked for a contract.”

The new Turkish ties filter all the way down to Somalia’s famously entrepreneurial family businesses. Local contractor Abdunir Abukar works with a Turkish company rehabilitating properties across Mogadishu. His workers initially resisted working with the Turks, he said, due to communication barriers and a Somali work ethic that atrophied over two decades of conflict. “Our employees have adapted. They have learned discipline and technical skills from them.”

These small changes can multiply quickly. A more disciplined and skilled workforce encourages thediaspora to return and help rebuild, which in turn creates more stability, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of development.

Abdul Majeed Iman owned several shops prior to the civil war. His buildings and inventory were completely destroyed. He returned to Mogadishu in 2010 and re-opened a retail shop. Now, he sources some of his merchandise from Turkey.

“Turkish companies have requested to work together. They have offered to fly businessmen over to Turkey to discuss how they could cooperate,” he said. Despite his own entrepreneurial background, he adds: “We can learn from the Turkish expertise.”

Turkey sees the tightening business ties as more beneficial than the aid it provides. “We encourage business activity because it’s good for Somalis, it creates jobs, teaches Somalis skills and creates less aid dependency,” said Ambassador Torun. Of course, Turkey is looking to profit as well.

Turkish business moving in to Somalia are in direct competition with other international companies operating in Somalia, at times resulting in a zero-sum game for key contracts. For instance, SKA, a company from Dubai, had a 10-year contract to operate the airport. But the Somali government abruptly cancelled the contract and gave it instead to a Turkish company, leaving some to question whether Turkey’s aid has created an unfair competitive advantage with the Somali government.

By accepting the risks here when nobody else was willing to, Turkey more than any other country, is poised to cash in on the rise of a stable Somalia. It’s a unique soft power strategy: more direct than Western nations, more cooperative and willing to transfer skills than China.

Since 2005, Turkey has significantly increased its presence in Africa, going from 12 embassies in 2005 to 34 today. Its aggressive expansion demonstrates a desire to fight for influence on the continent that is poised to be the fastest growing over the next few decades, adding 1.3 billion people by 2050. The general narrative is that China is the most important partner to Africa, but if Somalia is any indication, Turkey might be a real contender.
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Kyle Westaway splits his time between Brooklyn and Nairobi. He writes on entrepreneurship, tech, social innovation, emerging economies and East Africa. He is author of the upcoming book Profit and Purpose.
You can follow Kyle on twitter @kylewestaway. We welcome your comments atideas@qz.com

Many Somalis rely on money sent from family in Britain, but the tap may be turned off

Shamis Abokor was once Somalia’s hottest pop singer, belting out love songs in front of thousands of adoring fans.
Then she suffered a disastrous stoke and for the past 16 years she has been confined to her tiny concrete home, cared for by relatives. Today, aged 78, she is bedridden and semi-paralysed. She survives with dignity thanks to her daughter in the UK, who sends her hundreds of pounds every month via a Somali money transfer operator (MTO) called Dahabshiil.
A few streets away in his tidy, windowless office, Ahmed Aliubaxle is a symbol of why Somaliland, the self-declared independent republic in the north-west, is so different from Mogadishu and points south, still racked by civil war. His father emigrated to Birmingham, made some money in property and sent it home, where Ahmed used it to import used vehicles from Dubai and re-selling them. He is now the boss of a major freight forwarding company, moving everything from wheelchairs to construction equipment across the world.
But Somaliland, like the rest of the country, has no banks, so he depends on Dahabshiil for his firm’s growth. “Without Dahabshiil I would have no way to get cars from Dubai or a generator from China,” he explains. “The only way would be to fly to China with a suitcase full of dollars.”
Across town, Alima Abdi’s little grocery shop is no more than a window in a stone wall, but it helps feed her and her five children. It was set up with the help of her sister who works in London, and still sends $200 a month.
Ms Abokor, Mr Ahmed and Ms Abdi are just three of the millions of Somalis who owe their survival to “the economy of compassion” – the relatives abroad who send regular sums month after month and year after year. The total remitted annually is believed to be about $1.3bn (£830m), or half of Somalia’s national income, and dwarfs international aid. At least 40 per cent of Somalis depend on these payments: the true figure may be much higher, because the remittances are often divided among numerous relatives. Somalis in the UK alone remit some $500m a year.
With a federal government shakily holding on to power in Mogadishu and violence significantly reduced, Somalia and the EU co-host a conference of international donors in Brussels today, intended to chart a new course to peace and prosperity.
But on 30 September, those hopeful prospects will be thrown into jeopardy when Barclays closes the accounts of 250 Somali MTOs, including Dahabshiil, which is much the biggest of the lot.
Barclays initially announced, in a letter to Dahabshiil and others dated 8 May, that the accounts would be closed on 30 July. It wrote: “Acceptance and eligibility criteria have been amended for customers in this sector,  which unfortunately means we will no longer be able to provide banking services to businesses that fall outside of these.”
For everyone involved in helping to haul Somalia back from the brink after its years of civil war and famine, the disastrous implications were immediately clear. Simon Levine of the Overseas Development Institute said: “The famine of 2011 is largely over, so we’re back to the situation where one in seven young children are so skinny that they are classified as ‘acutely malnourished’… If Barclays pull out of Somalia and there is no way to send money, what happens when families whose kids are already malnourished lose a quarter of their income? And what happens to the economy, to jobs, to investment when a quarter of the money just disappears? There is a risk that the consequences could be even worse and much longer-lasting than the 2011 famine itself.”
Ahmed Aliubaxle, freight forwarder: ‘Without Dahabshiil … the only way would be to fly to China with a suitcase full of dollars’
For the international aid community, the severing of the remittance pipeline threatens to spark a new Somali emergency. And the effect on the agencies is even more direct than that, because in the absence of banks, they depend on the MTOs to funnel aid money to their Somali projects. The vast majority of them, including Oxfam, Care International and World Vision, use Dahabshiil, as does the United Nations.
Founded in 1970 in Burao, near Hargeisa, Dahabshiil’s head office is in Whitechapel in east London, while in Somalia it has 268 agencies across the country. Inside Somaliland, where its dominance is overwhelming, it describes itself as a bank and fulfils all of a bank’s normal functions.
With 5,000 employees spread across 150 countries, this family-owned company has become big and profitable enough to keep abreast of the ever-changing regulations of the banking sector in Europe and the US. During a 15-year relationship, Barclays has regularly acknowledged that Dahabshiil is fully compliant with industry regulations.
As a UK banking industry insider confirmed, it is US not British regulators that are setting the pace in the crackdown, following the massive fines imposed last year on HSBC ($1.9bn) and Standard Chartered ($330m) for facilitating money-laundering. “The main pressure is from the US regulator,” he said. “They are the ones on the hunt.”
The irony is that, just one month before Barclays’ announcement, Dahabshiil received a ringing endorsement in the US. Seeking a solution to transparency problems with Somali MTOs, a US Bankcorp spokesman said: “We are pleased that we may have recently found a solution with one remitter – Dahabshiil… We are currently in discussions with this remitter to ensure all parties understand the terms and requirements necessary.”
The Barclays bombshell provoked a storm of protest and concern, and Barclays responded by extending the deadline to 30 September. But it has so far refused to contemplate a U-turn. Writing to Oxfam, Anthony Jenkins, the Barclays chief executive, said: “There are a number of serious concerns about the operation [of MTOs], with the sector at particular risk of being used for the transmission of the proceeds of crime, for money laundering, and for terrorist financing. This risk is exacerbated by a lack of transparency on who the remitters and end-receivers are in transactions.”
In Nairobi last week, Abdirashid Duale, Dahabshiil’s chief executive, said: “It’s all to do with fear. The banks are worried about Somalia because all they read is bad news about piracy, Al-Shabaab [the militant Al-Qa’ida offshoot] and so on – but they never go to Somalia to see for themselves. They fear that some day, something might happen, and ever since 9/11 Somalia has been harassed and stigmatised because of that fear. But the fact is that all the 9/11 terrorists used Western banking institutions… We are not asking any favours. If any company broke the law, they should face the law.”
Mr Duale has drafted a set of proposals to address the banks’ fears: improving the institutional capacity of the MTOs in technology and compliance systems, setting up third-party monitoring and certification inside Somalia, helping the Somali government to introduce biometric scanning to remove uncertainty about the identity of recipients, and setting up a fund which would effectively insure the Western banks against financial penalties. He also agrees on the need for greater collaboration between Somali MTOs. “We Somalis need to work together, or we will die together,” he said.
But so far there is no indication that Barclays will grant the MTOs a year of grace, as Oxfam and others have demanded. So what solutions are open to Somalis who want to maintain the lifeline to their families?
The obvious answer is to go back to the old-fashioned, unregulated, hole-in-the-corner hawala firms, which rely on the trust between members of the same Somali clans. “Somalis will find a way,” said Ed Pomfret, Oxfam’s campaigns and policy manager in Somalia. “We’re asking Somalis to pack suitcases with cash and carry it to Mogadishu. For a government dedicated to fighting money laundering, that doesn’t make any sense.”
Killing the patient to cure the disease…
$1.3bn
Total remitted to Somalia annually, about half of its national income
40
Percentage of Somalis relying on remittances
250
MTOs who will have their UK accounts closed

Source: independent

 President Mohamud said the deal would open a “new chapter” for Somalia

The European Union has pledged 650m euro ($860m; £540m) at a conference in Brussels to help Somalia end more than two decades of conflict.

The money is part of a “New Deal” for what is widely regarded as a failed state, officials said.

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab dismissed the meeting as “Belgian waffle”.

Al-Shabab is fighting to oust Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government, the first to be recognised by the US in more than 20 years.

The group controls most of southern Somalia, but it has been driven out of the main cities and towns, including the capital Mogadishu, by an African Union (AU) force backing the government.

BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper says the New Deal will see the Somali government spearheading initiatives to promote peace and state-building.

Source: BBC

Somalia is a good test case for the New Deal. It certainly fits the criteria for a fragile state, given that for six years in a row it has come top of the list of the world’s most failed states.

The New Deal focuses on peace and state-building. Without these, goes the argument, there can be no meaningful development, and aid money simply goes to waste. This has certainly been the case in Somalia, where billions of dollars have been thrown at a problem that refuses to go away.

The EU and Somalia argue that now is a good time to adopt the New Deal. They say the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front.

But it is possible that the Brussels meeting will simply be the latest in the long list of expensive conferences on Somalia that end with ambitious communiques but have little or no impact on the development of the country.

The EU and Somali government believe now is a good time to adopt the programme as the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front, our correspondent says.

Mr Mohamud told the BBC Somali service he welcomed the New Deal.

“It’s a standard deal throughout the world in the post-conflict environment. This is a deal that is based on Somalia-led initiatives,” he said.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the extra money would support a “new phase in the life of Somalia”.

It would be in addition to the $1.6bn the EU gave Somalia from 2008 to 2013, he said.

Most of this money was used to finance the AU force of some 18,000 troops, AFP news agency reports reports.

Separately, the UK said it would contribute £50m ($80m) to the New Deal.

The money would go towards improving health and water services and rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by war, it said.

The UK’s ambassador to Somalia, Neil Wigan, said the conference was “a major milestone”, AFP reports.

Diplomats were hoping to see more than $1bn in pledges to help rebuild Somalia, it reports.

“Our combined efforts will maintain momentum and deliver the change that the people of Somalia desperately need,” Mr Wigan is quoted as saying.

Al-Shabab said it expected donor pledges would remain mostly unfulfilled or the money would be lost in corruption.

‘Slush fund’

“It’s a bit like Belgian Waffles: sweet on the outside but really has not much substance to it,” it said on its Twitter account.

Mr Mohamud said at a news conference that aid money had been used to save lives, and provide basic services to Somalis.

 The New Deal would take Somalia from an “emergency to recovery” over the next three years, he said.

“This is a new chapter. Today we are ending a journey and starting a new one,” Mr Mohamud added.

There have been several international conferences to help Somalia rebuild itself, including one hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in May.

The UK and other donors pledged some $130m in aid for Somalia at the time.

Earlier this month, Somalia’s government said international investigators it had appointed had cleared it of corruption allegations made by United Nations monitors.

In July, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia said Somalia’s central bank had become a “slush fund” for political leaders and that the current governor played a central role in irregularities surrounding unaccountable disbursements of cash.

In September, Norway decided to directly pay government employees their salaries in order to curb corruption, UN-backed Somali Radio Bar-Kulan reported at the time.

BRUSSELS  – Somalia’s government and international donors will sign up to a three-year plan on Monday to rebuild the violence-torn country, backed by pledges of new funding that EU officials hope could reach more than one billion euros.

The Brussels conference is aimed at consolidating fragile security gains in Somalia after two decades of civil war and lawlessness triggered by the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991.

Nick Westcott, a senior EU diplomat dealing with Africa, said Monday’s conference would be a “milestone in terms of the political reconstruction of Somalia”.

“We are beginning to see after 20 years of conflict Somalia pulling itself together,” he told reporters.

The 28-nation EU is the largest donor to Somalia and helps fund the African Union’s Amisom peacekeeping troops, who have helped drive Islamist al Shabaab rebels out of Mogadishu and many other strongholds in central and southern Somalia.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and international backers will sign up to a “new deal compact” at Monday’s conference, committing them to a series of goals in the areas of inclusive politics, security, justice, economy and services.

International donors are also expected to pledge aid in support of Somalia’s reconstruction.

EU officials would not say how much they expect to be pledged, but one EU source said any figure above one billion euros would be “a significant success”.

About 50 delegations will take part in the meeting, including African countries, the United States, Japan, China and Gulf countries as well as EU states.

Somalia will also on Monday join the Cotonou agreement, the framework for the EU’s relations with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, making it eligible for aid from the European Development Fund.

The EU has previously pledged 1.2 billion euros for Somalia between 2008 and 2013. It has also launched several missions to help Somalia strengthen its security, including a counter-piracy force and a mission to train the Somali military.

Source:Reuters

pecial Representative Nicholas Kay. Photo: AU/UN/IST/Tobin Jones

12 September 2013 – While praising the people and Government of Somalia, along with their international partners, for being “on the brink of achieving truly great things,” the top United Nations Envoy in the country warned the Security Council that overall success is not guaranteed and that “in no sense at all is the Somalia ‘crisis’ over.

“Where we stand is […] precarious. We cannot afford to lessen our focus or investment – despite the many competing claims for our attention in the rest of the world,” said Nicholas Kay, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, as he briefed the Council on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation in the country.

Before going into some detail on political and security issues he began by answering the question he said that all the Secretary-general’s Special Representatives probably hear most: “Are you optimistic?”

“The answer in my case is a resounding “yes,” he said, adding that behind the “twists and turns, the crises and the standoffs”, Somalia has the foundations for progress: the international community is united behind a credible, legitimate federal Government.

“There are resources available to meet the most immediate needs; there is the political will to compromise and manage disputes without resorting to violence. And the Somali people I have met are tired of war and deprivation, fed up with brinkmanship and predatory politics,” said Mr. Kay.

He said that the core of Somalia’s political challenge is simple to describe, “even if rather difficult to solve.” After 22 years of conflict, power and control of resources and revenue have fragmented. The strong centralist state has ceased to exist. Different regions and different people now hold different bits of power, he said, adding: “That’s why Somalis have decided a federal model is the only system that will work in this new reality.”

Mr. Kay said that the task now is for Somalis to reconcile and agree among themselves exactly how federalism will work in practice. “How will they share power, revenue, resources and responsibilities in a way that benefits all Somalia? These are difficult issues: but ones which need political solutions,” he said.

That is why in his first three months, he prioritized the need for progress on the Constitutional review and constructive engagement with the regions; travelling to Puntland, Somaliland and engaging closely on the Jubba question.

He went on to tell the Council that the situation in the Jubba regions was one of the most serious issues to face the Federal Government. In early June, the risks were very high of a collapse in security and political stalemate in Kismayo, as well as between the Jubba parties and Mogadishu.

“However, an agreement was finally reached on 28 August in Addis Ababa, under the active mediation of Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr Tedros Andhanom on behalf of IGAD, which set out interim governance, security and economic arrangements,” he said.

To the north, the relationship between Somaliland and Somalia remains sensitive and fragile. Nevertheless, he said, there is progress to report. With the mediation of Turkey, the two parties have had two sessions of talks this year. The agreement on shared management of airspace could be a model for other areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. “We urge both sides to focus on solutions, however modest, not problems,” said Mr. Kay.

As for other progress he said that in less than a week, another key building block of Somalia’s stabilization will be put in place as some 200 delegates will gather in Brussels on September 16, hosted jointly by the European Union and the Federal Government.

“The New Deal Compact is a Somali-led and Somali-owned set of priorities, milestones to achieve them, making an architecture for international support to Somalia, coordination and funding,” he said, but stressed that the true test of the Compact will be in how it makes a difference in peoples’ daily lives. “The UN in Somalia will play its part to the full, especially in assisting the Government to coordinate international assistance,” he said.

Finally, he said that in terms of rebuilding a shattered state and rescuing millions of people from conflict and poverty, “we are standing on the very edge of great success.” But, Mr. Kay urged the Council to remain vigilant, stressing that the “crisis” was far from over. “If we fail and Somalia slips back and Al Shabaab prevail, we shall feel the security impact from Bamako to Bangui, and beyond Africa. Their ideology respects no borders.”

To get over the threshold and achieve great things, “we need more,” he continued, stressing that while much had been done, there are three areas in which the international community must boost its efforts: support for the Somali National Security Forces; enhanced capabilities for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM); and thirdly, an well-resourced and coherent UN role in the exit strategy for AMISOM.

“Working in Somalia is expensive; keeping our staff safe costs real money. Ensuring success will cost more, but not very much compared to what the international community has spent in Iraq, Afghanistan and more recently Mali,” Mr. Kay said.

Chefs from Denmark’s world famous Noma restaurant have launched an appeal to support a colleague in war-torn Somalia after his establishment was targeted again by Al-Qaeda inspired insurgents.

The Village, set up in 2008 by restaurateur Ahmed Jama in Somalia’s dangerous capital Mogadishu, was last week attacked for the third time by Islamist Shebab insurgents, with a suicide attacker and then a car bomb killing at least 18 people.

Copenhagen-based Noma, three times ranked top of the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list, helped launch the appeal on Monday to support Jama, kick starting donations on an Internet crowd sourcing site.

“Guys, lets help out chef Ahmed in Somalia rebuild,” Noma founder Rene Redzepi wrote in a message on Twitter.

The opening of Jama’s restaurant challenged perceptions of a city infamous as a byword for anarchy, and fought over by multiple warlords since the collapse of government in 1991.

Jama’s restaurant provided the tiniest taste of the elegant seaside capital that Mogadishu once was.

In two days, more than half the 12,000 euro (16,000 dollars) goal has been raised.

“As a community of chefs, we just wanted to show our support for what he (Jama) has been doing,” said Mark Emil Tholstrup Hermansen, one of organisers of the appeal.

Jama had spoken in August in Copenhagen at the MAD Symposium, a community of chefs, cooks and farmers Redzepi helped set up.

He spoke of how after fleeing the war in Somalia, finally training as a chef in London, he returned home to Mogadishu to open his restaurant to create jobs and bring communities together over food.

Several of Jama’s employees have been killed by Shebab suicide bombers in previous attacks.

“I promote peace and they promote violence,” Jama said, speaking in August.

Somalia’s Shebab extremists are battling to overthrow the internationally-backed government, launching attacks in the heart of the capital despite losing a series of towns to African Union and government forces.

UN Monitoring Group reports in July estimated the Shebab are still some 5,000 strong, and remain the “principal threat to peace and security to Somalia”.

“Ahmed Jama, because the sound of a falling tree is always larger than that of a thousand growing trees, may your tree start to grow again, in silence, to provide shade and comfort and prove there are other ways in which to prove a point besides violence,” one person wrote as they submitted their donation.

People ente the world-famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, on April 27, 2010. Chefs from Noma have launched an appeal to support a colleague in war-torn Somalia after his establishment was targeted again by Al-Qaeda inspired insurgents.

Noma founder Rene Redzepi poses for photographers ahead of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards ceremony at London’s Guildhall on April 29, 2013. Chefs from Denmark’s world famous Noma restaurant have launched an appeal to support a colleague in war-torn Somalia after his establishment was targeted again by Al-Qaeda inspired insurgents.

Source: AFP

European Commission

MEMO

Brussels, 9 September 2013

Conference “A New Deal for Somalia”

The conference “A new deal for Somalia” is a high-level event organised jointly by the European Union and Somalia in Brussels.

Why:

Somalia’s eight-year transition ended in September 2012, with the peaceful handover to a new Federal Government. The Conference’s objective is to sustain the positive momentum in Somalia, to ensure that the country stays on the path to stability and peace and brings prosperity to its people.

The New Deal is the driver of this process. The Brussels Conference will therefore bring together the international community and Somalia to endorse the Compact –a key milestone of the process- pledge support to enable its implementation and, above all, re-commit to this new political process.

When: 16 September 2013

The opening session will include speeches by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, the President of Somalia, Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

This will be followed by three working sessions, one focusing on the new political order, one on rebuilding the social and economic foundations and one on the rule of law and security. EU High RepresentativeCatherine Ashton, Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs as well as representatives of various international organisations will co-chair these sessions.

Pledges will be during the working sessions at the end of each speaker’s intervention.

The closing session will consist in the endorsement of the Compact by the President of Somalia, Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.

The press conference, foreseen at 17.30, will close the event.

Where:

The Conference “A new deal for Somalia” will take place in the Egmont Palace, Passage de Milan, Boulevard de Waterloo, 31, 1000 Bruxelles

Services for the media:

1. Listening room (Arenberg room), where the opening and closing sessions will be transmitted live together with the session on “Re-building Somalia’s social and economic foundations”

2. Interview rooms (President Room and Mandarine room with backdrops for TV interviews and photos) and two interview corners. If interested in prearranging an interview with representatives of delegations or high level speakers please contact: michael.mann@eeas.europa.eu or iulia.costea@ec.europa.eu

3. Webstreaming: images of the opening and closing sessions of the conference together with the session on “Re-building Somalia’s social and economic foundations” and the press conference will be broadcast live on the conference website and Europe by Satellite. Audio video materials will be available after the conference on Europe by Satellite website as well as on the conference website.

Media events:

1. Technical briefing on “A New Deal for Somalia” by EEAS MD for Africa Mr. Nick Westcott, DEVCO Deputy Director-General Mr. Marcus Cornaro and Alexander Rondos, The European Union Special Representative for Horn of Africa – 13 September from 09:00 in EEAS Press Room (9A Rond Point Schuman, 1046 Bruxelles). All interested journalists can attend. In order to receive accreditation please contact iulia.costea@ec.europa.eu

2. Photo and TV opportunity upon the arrival of the participants. (outside, in the courtyard of Egmont Palace; entrance via Passage de Milan, Boulevard de Waterloo, 31, 1000 Bruxelles)

3. Press conference by Somali President Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and EU High Representative Catherine Ashton – 16 September, 17:30, in the Library Room of the Egmont Palace. Only journalists who have registered for the event will be able to attend. This event will be in English only.

Accreditations:

For security reasons and because of the limited amount of space in the Palais d’Egmont building, the number of journalists authorised to attend the conference will be strictly limited.

Registration in advance is compulsory for journalists via: www.somalia-newdeal-conference.eu/press-registration (until 11 September at 22:00).

For more information

Conference website: www.somalia-newdeal-conference.eu

For any media queries please contact iulia.costea@ec.europa.eu

European Commission

Press release

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Brussels, 9 September 2013

Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development said: “A safer and more secure environment in Somalia will benefit the Somali people and development of the country as a whole. AMISOM plays an essential role in supporting Somalia on its path towards stability and lasting peace until the country can assume full responsibility for its own security.”

High Representative Catherine Ashton said: “The Somalia we see today demonstrates the progress that can be achieved through the strong commitment of a country and its partners to move beyond the misery of civil war and destitution. AMISOM and the Somali National Forces, with the support of the European Union, have succeeded in providing the security and space for politics to occur and for the process of reconciliation to begin. Building on the progress achieved so far, Somalia and its international partners will agree on 16 September in Brussels a “New Deal Compact” for the country’s future that will help Somalia continue on the path to re-building a fragile state and healing a divided nation”.

The EU and the Federal Government of Somalia will co-host a High Level Conference on “A New Deal for Somalia” in Brussels on 16 September 2013 to sustain the positive momentum in Somalia, and pledge support for a framework to reconstruct the country. The Conference will bring together the international community and the Somali people to endorse this framework – a “Compact” for Somalia for the next three years.

The EU also calls on other donors to contribute to funding for AMISOM. This new funding will cover the period of 1 June to 31 December 2013 and bring the overall EU contribution to AMISOM to almost €600 million.

Background

AMISOM is an African Union-led mission mandated by the United Nations Security Council to:

• maintain a presence and conduct military operations in four areas of South-Central Somalia (according to the concept of 5 January 2012);
• to support dialogue and reconciliation in Somalia;
• to provide protection to the Federal Government of Somalia and security for key infrastructure;
• to assist with the implementation of the Somali national security plans, through training and mentoring of the Somali Security Forces;
• to contribute to the necessary security conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance,
• to assist within its civilian capability the Federal Government;
• to extend state authority in areas recovered from Al-Shabaab, and to protect its personnel and facilities.

Since its launch in March 2007, the EU has been one of the main funders of the operation and sole founder of troop allowances through the African Peace Facility (APF), which is the EU’s main instrument to support Peace and Security in Africa. It has also funded the mission through bilateral contributions of its Member States. The EU trains Somalia’s national army through its Training Mission (EUTM Somalia) under its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Through this mission, the EU aims to help develop Somalia’s security institutions to ultimately hand over security responsibility to Somalis.

The mission is also contributing to the Africa-EU partnership on peace and security of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). The strategy, adopted at the Lisbon Summit in December 2007, remains the overarching policy framework for EU-Africa relations. The JAES puts EU-Africa relations on a new footing, based on the pursuit of shared values and common interests. Both sides are determined to strengthen their cooperation as equal partners, based on this shared long-term vision for EU-Africa relations in a globalised world.

For more information

EU relations with Somalia:

http://eeas.europa.eu/somalia/index_en.htm

“A New Deal for Somalia” Conference:

http://www.somalia-newdeal-conference.eu/

Website of the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm

Website of EuropeAid Development and Cooperation DG:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

Website of the Africa-EU partnership:

http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/