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On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an unannounced visit to Somalia to met President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and discuss peace, security, and humanitarian issues.
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“The president and I discussed the government’s valuable efforts to tackle terrorism and advance peace and security for everyone, and we underlined the importance of a strong collaboration between the federal government and states,” Guterres said, adding that local authorities can count on the UN’s support for further advancing state-building.
The UN Secretary’s visit comes as Somalia is facing a humanitarian crisis due to severe drought, which has left more than 8.25 million in need of food aid.
The crisis was caused by the historic failure of five consecutive rainy seasons, persistent conflict, displacement, and high food prices which have left millions of people at risk and are pushing people in Somalia to the brink of famine.
The number of people displaced by conflict & drought in Somalia has reached a record high.
Most of them are women & children.@UN teams in the country are working to address immediate & long-term needs.
The international community must not forget this crisis. pic.twitter.com/M1ppqmEQsC
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres)
April 3, 2023
On the state-building side, President Mohamud said they have held five successful national consultative meetings with federal member states to build consensus to address the contentious issues, review the constitution, and fix challenges in the security sector.
“We have made very good progress in terms of development of national security architecture in the development of national federal judiciary system in terms of physical federalism for the whole country that manages the whole theme,” he said.
Mohamud also stressed liberating the country from the scourge of terrorism, averting famine and humanitarian crises as well as completing economic and financial reform of the country are the key priorities his government needs to tackle.
