UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the political agreement reached by Somalis at a national constitutional conference, saying the accord sets out clear steps for ending the transition and putting in place a constitutional order in the war-scarred, impoverished country.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, the UN chief said the stakeholders who took part in the so-called Garowe II conference, which wrapped up on Friday, deserved credit for reaching the agreement.
The Secretary-General applauds the spirit of unity and commitment demonstrated by the Roadmap signatories as well as representatives from the areas recently recovered from Al-Shabaab who participated, the statement noted. Senior members of Somalia's Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs), parliamentary leaders and representatives of self-declared autonomous regions within Somalia all took part in the conference, which was held in Garowe, Puntland.
Augustine Mahiga, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, also participated in the conference, which took place less than a week before the international community gathers in London for a major conference on the way forward for Somalia.
The TFIs are in the process of implementing a roadmap devised in September last year. That roadmap spells out priority measures to be carried out before the current transitional governing arrangements end in August.
Ban said in Monday's statement that he particularly welcomed the commitment to include a minimum of 30 per cent women in the Independent Electoral Commission, the Constituent Assembly and the new Federal Parliament.
The Secretary-General looks forward to full and timely implementation of the commitments made, the statement stressed, adding that the United Nations is ready to provide comprehensive support for their implementation.
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