HAMZA ABDI BARRE, Prime Minister of Somalia, called for the renewal and acceleration of actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  “The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our interconnected world, but it has also showed the power of solidarity and cooperation during difficult times,” he said, calling for establishing platforms to coordinate policies at the global and regional levels and for restructuring the global financial order.  “Today, our world faces unprecedented challenges as we witness the unprecedented increase in violence,” he said, noting that new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are causing new and terrifying threats.  Also spotlighting the noticeable increase in armed conflicts and military coups, especially in the African continent, he added that such conflicts lead to displacement and poverty.  He called for an immediate and comprehensive secession of violence and protection of constitutional systems that guarantee civil liberties.

Condemning the racial discrimination and oppression that is targeting Muslim communities in many areas of the world, he stressed that the State of Palestine continues to be a source of shame.  “Somalia will continue to defend the right of the Palestinian people for self-determination,” he said, voicing support for the two-State solution.  He called on world leaders to work together to reform multilateral institutions, including the United Nations, its Security Council and development banks, to make them more inclusive, transparent, accountable and fit for purpose.

“Climate change is an existential threat to humanity, and it is a challenge that knows no borders,” he continued, adding that it must be addressed through a unified will.  “In the past years, Somalia has been the victim of a vicious cycle of prolonged droughts and destructive floods that have killed thousands and displaced millions,” he reported, pointing out that Somalia is the country that has the least to do with carbon emissions globally but bears the breadth of the negative effects of climate change.  He also reported on his country’s tangible progress towards peace and stability, adding that the principle of living in peace with the rest of the world is a cornerstone of Somalia’s policy.  “We have dealt with an iron fist with extremism,” he reported, highlighting that his country managed to clear more than 45 per cent of the areas that were previously occupied by terrorists.

He went on to call for the establishment of a similar approach to dealing with terrorists worldwide, commending the bravery and sacrifices made by the African Union’s Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and thanking those countries that contributed their troops to the Mission.  “Somalia is committed to the full implementation of the security transition plan and taking over the full security responsibility once ATMIS forces depart by the end of December 2024,” he stated, reiterating his country’s calls for the complete and unconditional removal of the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council in 1992.  “It is the longest lasting and the widest and most comprehensive arms embargo in the world,” he pointed out, adding that Somalia now has the necessary administrative systems which are strict in controlling the possession, use and storage of firearms.  Thus, lifting this embargo would allow his country to combat terrorism more effectively and build a peaceful and prosperous future for its people, he said.