The U.N. envoy for Somalia urged the country’s leaders on Monday to take “bold steps” to ensure that 2020 sets the fragile Horn of Africa country on a trajectory to peace and stability, not more political division and increasing extremism.
According to James Swan, Somalia and its international partners agreed in October on the priorities Somalia “must not fail” to achieve in 2020. They include achieving debt relief, holding one-person one-vote elections, finalizing the federal constitution, advancing the fight against al-Shabab extremists, and consolidating the federal state.
He told the U.N. Security Council there has been “good progress” on economic priorities.
The executive boards of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank recently confirmed Somalia’s eligibility for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, Swan said, and key legislation has been passed to strengthen the country’s fiscal framework.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed met with some party leaders in November but not since then, the U.N. envoy said, and tensions between the federal government and regional states continue.
“The protracted absence of a broad political consensus on the way forward in 2020 remains a threat to further progress,” Swan warned.
Swan urged the federal parliament and electoral officials in consultation with the federal government, states and others “to resolve these issues urgently so that technical preparations can get under way.”
The federal government has committed to adopting an amended constitution by June, and elections are expected to be held in the last quarter of the year.
