mr president the horn of africa is a dreadful region where internal and regional conflicts continue to undermine peace and security
they create humanitarian disasters and paralyse the development of this strategically significant region
each war each conflict accentuates the fragility of the states
at the heart of most of these conflicts is the lack of leadership and democratic governments rightly put forward in the report of the ep delegation
what this region needs is home-grown democratisation respect for national and international rule of law and above all national reconciliation
about somalia i would like to emphasise that the resignation of former president yusuf and the withdrawal of ethiopian forces creates a huge window of opportunity
the time has come to pick up the pieces and bring about intra-somali peace
the somali parliament is a crucial factor for confidence-building and can make the peace process all-inclusive
furthermore it is imperative that the eu supports the renewal and strengthening of an african union peace force
this force needs a decent un mandate
if not ugandan and burundian forces will pull away from mogadishu leaving a security gap behind
i entirely agree with commissioner ferrero-waldner
there is a momentum for change now in somalia that should be taken advantage of
the power as well as the security vacuum must be filled
if not the stateless chaos known as somalia will remain
