Meeting of International Contact Group on Somalia (Rome, 9-10 June)

NAIROBI, June 9 -meeting aimed at stabilizing war-torn Somalia is set to kick off in Rome, a UN envoy for the Horn of Africa nation announced here Tuesday.
A statement from UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said representatives from more than 35 countries and international organizations are expected to attend the 15th meeting of the International Contact Group to be held from June 9-10.
The meeting will include discussions on the political, security, humanitarian and development situation. Piracy will be high on the agenda. Somalia's Prime Minister will attend the meeting.

"This is an important time for Somalia and it is vital that the international community gives a strong message of support to the legal government," said Ould-Abdallah who chairs the International Contact Group. "The regional organization IGAD, along with the African Union, are both extremely concerned, as is the wider international community, by the long Somali crisis. They have shown us the way at their recent meetings," he noted in a statement issued in Nairobi. The UN envoy said Somalia has always attracted support from its friends abroad. The International Contact Group, established by the United States and Norway, held its first meeting in 2005 in New York and its second in London. In recent years the membership of the group has expanded greatly, demonstrating increased interest in resolving the Somali crisis. "These talks will be about supporting the legitimate, internationally recognized government," said Ould-Abdallah. "There is no question of any inter-Somali discussions taking place as some have tried to suggest. The ICG is a group of friends of Somalia not a negotiating forum. "I would like to thank the Italian Government for offering to host this meeting. We are looking forward to a positive, fruitful discussion." Somalia's UN-backed transitional government is battling against rival Islamist groups in violence that has swelled the country's more than 1 million internal refugee population. Aid agencies say 3 million people need urgent food aid in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.