YouSaid · the spoken record

Ould-Abdallah

lines on the record: 125
first: 2005-02-25
most recent: 2010-05-12
sittings or episodes: 11
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“An increase in humanitarian assistance and improved access for agencies would be helpful but it will not put a stop to the violence. The suffering might be mitigated, but it will not be ended, as long as instability prevails. Despite millions of dollars, efforts and resources, national reconciliation continues to be elusive. The Somalis and their neighbours are frustrated by this continued war, which is generating deep resentment and cynicism. The current military situation cannot last forever. In addition, it should not be used as an excuse for continuing business as usual. A "wait and see" attitude would only postpone the day of reckoning and would not facilitate meaningful progress towards a lasting peace. That is why we really have only two choices - either withdrawal or looking at other forms of action.”
2007-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5805 (2007) · source
“07-64634 I see three possible approaches to international involvement in Somalia. The first course of action is simply continuing the current status quo, or "business as usual". The second approach would be an organized withdrawal of the international community from Somalia, in effect accepting our inability to protect the population or to bring about a lasting peace. A third possible solution would be immediate and effective action on the political and security fronts. The first approach is to maintain the status quo. Policies tried and implemented over the past 17 years have clearly failed to restore stability. Even worse, they may have fuelled the conflict owing to some side effects of international assistance. Aid may give the impression that it addresses the root causes of the crisis, but it does not.”
2007-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5805 (2007) · source
“The conflict in Somalia is not, in my opinion, an African Union or a League of Arab States or an Organization of the Islamic Conference issue. It is neither a liberation struggle, nor an ethnic or religious war. It is also not just a struggle for power among the clans, as many believe. The frequently shifting allegiances between and within clans demonstrate that other factors are also responsible for the continued instability of the country. The conflict in Somalia, which began in 1991, is a threat to peace and security. The situation is dangerous and is becoming more so each day. Somalia's youth, who make up about two thirds of the population, has only one employment opportunity - participation in a conflict that has blighted their lives. This situation has continued over the past 17 years, despite l7 agreements.”
2007-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5805 (2007) · source
“Mr. Ould Abdallah: I would like to thank all Member States and organizations for the support I have been receiving from them in my functions, and thank them for the attention they have been giving to Somalia and the Somali people for the past 17 years. In this connection, the United Nations and all international partner institutions and countries have made and are still making extraordinary efforts to assist Somalia under extremely harsh conditions. Many, including journalists and aid workers, have sacrificed their lives in the course of their work with little or no recognition. I would also like to thank the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). It is doing excellent work with limited resources and manpower. In addition, protecting shipments of food against high-seas piracy is new, most welcome and should be continued.”
2007-12-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5805 (2007) · source
“President - stable countries such as Mali and Niger, which at the same time are fragile countries exposed to drought and other unpredictable events. They respect the law and the rights of their citizens. How can we help them to strengthen their capacities? My last point is that African public opinion is better informed. Today, I circulated a little radio that cost $1, bought in Africa - a radio that all Africans can buy. My generation could not buy one for less than $50. Therefore, Security Council debates are followed closely by all African countries in crisis, thanks to FM. radio, so we must be increasingly mindful of public opinion in Africa, particularly West Africa. It is aware of the messages that the Council can send it.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509Resumption1 (2006) · source
“I should like to make only four points. I think it is extremely important to insist once again that the unemployment among young people in West Africa poses a great threat to the stability of countries, as a number of speakers have said. It is also a threat to the bilateral relations between the region and its closest neighbours, particularly in Western Europe. In all of these countries, the immigration of young people is also an issue. Secondly, the Security Council should discuss how to find the best way to support the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in 2007 in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. It is a period of tension - tension that must be prevented. Thirdly, there are democratic countries such as yours, Mr.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509Resumption1 (2006) · source
“Fourthly, rapid urbanization and increasing insecurity are also a priority: 38 per cent to 40 per cent of West Africans live in capital cities. Finally, despite ECOWAS conventions on the matter, the free circulation of people and goods in West Africa has been difficult to maintain - in particular because of roadblocks and the constant harassment of the private sector. The private sector in Africa must be supported as a way of ensuring progress.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“Their institutional capacities must be reinforced and vulnerable populations must be assisted, as appropriate. Before concluding, I would like to stress that next year is an election year. Elections are an exercise in democracy, but they are also a time of tension. Elections are due to take place next year in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. In conclusion, the following priorities deserve attention: first, youth unemployment and its impact on national and regional peace and stability; secondly, unauthorized immigration and its increasing impact on local government and international relations; thirdly, peaceful democratic change of Government as a means of preventing conflict. How can we ensure the peaceful handover of power and avoid coups d'etats, violence and civil wars?”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“Thus, the people are well-informed and interconnected. We need only think back to the Africa of 1960, when many people did not read and were not informed, to see how things have changed. Everything that the Council does is followed closely. People are increasingly connected, not only in capital cities, but in all parts of the world. Thanks to this connectivity, people are better informed and more demanding of their Governments and of the international community. Through radio and television, the discussions that take place here are closely followed and understood in the countryside and in the remotest villages. In supporting conflict management and crisis resolution, the Security Council must pay particular attention to countries in transformation. These are stable States moving towards democratization, but they are still fragile.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“That Security Council support is valuable to us in order to better carry out the mandates entrusted to us. I believe there has been an evolution in Africa that should be seen beyond this, and that is the evolution at the people's level. To illustrate my point I have brought something to show how much West Africa and its people are connected, including with the Security Council. I have brought with me a little radio that costs less than a dollar and that makes it possible to follow the news on FM. - and I am not doing public relations for the BBC or for Radio France Internationale or the Voice of America, but one can listen to news on these little radios. I think that each Council member should have one of these radios just to understand my point. They cost less than $1 each, and people can keep abreast of the news by using them.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“Missions in the subregion include my office, the United Nations Office for West Africa, and the missions in Sierra Leone, 5 Liberia, Guinea-Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire. Those missions are complementary. They meet regularly to exchange information and experience and to design a coherent, integrated approach. That approach, which is very effective at the level of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, enables the United Nations to share its human and logistic resources and to speak with a single voice in crisis management. On several occasions the Security Council has recognized and encouraged this inter-mission collaboration, for instance in its presidential statements S/PRST/2004/7, of 25 March 2004, and S/PRST/2005/9, of 25 February 2005.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“Another emerging threat that I wish to mention is the development of piracy on the high seas. Notwithstanding all these challenges to be monitored, the integration of West Africa is continuing to make progress. The subregion is more integrated politically and economically than it was in the past. The voice of ECOWAS is increasingly asserting itself in crisis management. Here we should give credit here to the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Mr. Ibn Chambas, who is with us today. Credit is also due to Nigeria, which increasingly is becoming the indispensable State of the subregion. Nigeria and Ghana provide eighty per cent of the ECOWAS budget. The commitment of the United Nations is accepted in West Africa; the Organization is a factor largely accepted by the people.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“In terms of threat - and I insist on this point; we do not read about it much in the press or in the reports - the northern and eastern borders of the West African subregion are porous and fragile, as are the borders between States. Those zones are areas of legitimate commerce, but they also shelter criminal activities such as trafficking in arms, drugs and natural resources. In the southern area, along the Gulf of Guinea, as in the Sahel, there are religious groups - evangelists and Islamists. Social functions that formerly were performed by the State are now being carried out by these groups - health centres, schools and wells, for example. Alongside those two religious groups, the older, well-established Islamic brotherhoods and the Christian churches, especially the Catholics, are less and less visible.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“A great many of those young people are unemployed, so instead of being a source of hope they are a threat to stability, 06-4607] despite themselves. For two decades war has been their primary employer. Secondly, informal migration - sometimes called clandestine migration - of young people is gradually becoming a major political challenge for the Governments of the subregion and for the international community. These are new threats. Much progress has been made in West Africa. The Council should reinforce its support for those efforts, especially to consolidate progress and preventive action in the face of new threats.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“I should like to congratulate you, Mr. President, for having taken the good initiative of organizing this meeting, which attests to the importance that the Security Council attaches to the questions of peace and security in West Africa. I shall begin with two comments. First, West Africa is a region in transition: political transition from the era of single parties to multiparty democracy, but also economic transition from State-run economies to the private sector. The transition is also demographic, and this is a new and important problem. The population is largely young. Of the 270 million inhabitants in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), almost sixty per cent are less than 30 years old.”
2006-08-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5509 (2006) · source
“As it is late, I will not be long-winded. I would just like to thank Council members and the African speakers for the attention they are giving to the problems of the region and for the support they expressed. My colleagues and I will be seeking to implement the main elements in the statements, and we will be communicating bilaterally with the States concerned and in the next report of the Secretary-General.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“However, we remain confident that ongoing collaboration between the international community and West African populations and States will help to overcome some of those challenges. For the last two years we have worked closely with the Ghanaian chairmanship of ECOWAS. Our collaboration with Niger, current chair of the West African organization, is equally strong. Naturally, the support of the Security Council remains a precious asset.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“Stronger support from the international community is needed for countries with working democratic processes, such as Ghana or Niger, where free and fair elections have been organized most recently. The challenges ahead remain daunting. Togo, where a clumsy transfer of power was followed by great confusion, is a clear illustration of the fragility of peace and stability in parts of West Africa. Togo should also remind us that unless we address small crises in a timely and coherent manner, they could easily be transformed into bigger and more complicated issues, as happened in C6te d'Ivoire. Another concern is about what will happen next October with the scheduled elections in Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia. What might the impact be on Sierra Leone?”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“Specific security, humanitarian and social development priorities are being prioritized. Finally, in connection with our efforts to contribute to the strengthening of ECOWAS's institutional capacity for peacebuilding, an objective defined in the June 2004 UNOWA-ECOWAS joint work programme was the elaboration of an ECOWAS peacekeeping curriculum. The curriculum, which is aimed at informing future regional peacekeeping operations, is currently being finalized. There is, finally, a last challenge: the doctrinal challenge. Our efforts to build peace concentrate on countries at war. That is a logical course of action, given the burning political and humanitarian emergencies encountered in such States. Countries not at war, however, deserve support. They remain fragile and could be weakened by violence in their neighbourhood.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“With regard to small arms and light weapons, we are targeting the tracing and marking of small arms, the establishment of a regional register and the transformation of the ECOWAS Moratorium into a legally binding instrument. In the area of security sector reform, combating non-military threats to the security sector is a main priority. Specific issues to address are health - especially the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in armed forces and security forces - the administration of justice and the strengthening of customs services. With respect to integrated borders and cross- border peacebuilding, four clusters have been established: Guinea/ Cote d'Ivoire/Liberia/Sierra Leone, Mali/Burkina Faso/Cote d'Ivoire/Ghana, Mauritania/Mali/Niger and Senegal/Gambia/Guinea- Bissau.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“In that connection, I should like to mention the ongoing trilateral partnership among the European Union, ECOWAS and my Office, the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA). There is also a methodological challenge. Amid multiple challenges, we have to prioritize issues, areas and objectives. As suggested by a number of Council members during the retreat last June on Long Island, UNOWA has established a matrix for a more effective follow-up of Security Council recommendations contained in the presidential statement of 25 March 2004 (S/PRST/2004/7). Issues such as small arms, child soldiers, security sector reform, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, roadblocks and cross-border peacebuilding are among our key priorities.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“Of particular relevance here are the meetings of the Heads of three United Nations peacekeeping missions - in Cote d'lvoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone - and the United Nations Office in Guinea Bissau, which I chair on a quarterly basis. Those meetings are aimed at broadening inter-mission cooperation, improving the exchange of information and experience, pooling assets and collaborating across State borders. Stronger collaboration between the United Nations and other partners in the subregion - especially the Organization's partnership with ECOWAS, West African States and civil society - is also a priority. We will also continue to institutionalize our collaboration with development partners, including the World Bank and the European Union.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“The needs and requirements of West African States and people will continue to motivate and guide our work. The mandate of my Office is carried out in a particularly complex environment with new and recurrent crises. That makes our commitment crucial. Working within such a complex environment also further complicates our task. We take small steps in emergency situations where giant leaps would be more appropriate. Hope and faith in a better future should, however, remain alive and vibrant. To strengthen our action within the framework of our mandate, we focus on three broad challenges. The first is an institutional challenge. We must further strengthen institutional collaboration among the United Nations entities in West Africa.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“Secondly, we will strengthen our partnership with West African States and subregional organizations, especially with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Thirdly, on behalf of the Secretary- General, we will continue to carry out preventive diplomacy and early warning missions. Fourthly, we will continue to go beyond the news headlines, report to Headquarters on significant developments in the subregion and devise policy recommendations that provide a basis for effective peaceful crisis management. Finally, we will initiate outreach activities, in partnership with West African Governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and other international actors, to address persistent and emerging challenges to peace and security. Recommendations from the Security Council are the focus of our attention.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source
“Mr. Ould-Abdallah: I am very pleased to be here today and to participate in these discussions on the progress report of the Secretary-General on ways to combat subregional and cross-border challenges to peace and security in West Africa. Together with my colleagues, I thank the Secretary-General for his strong support. We also wish Benin a productive presidency of the Security Council. We are grateful to Security Council members for their continuous attention and interest with regard to the challenges to durable peace in West Africa. My Office remains focused on the fulfilment of its mandate. In that connection, we will continue to do the following. First, we will facilitate coherent and integrated approaches to peacebuilding among United Nations entities established in West Africa.”
2005-02-25 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5131 (2005) · source