Donors to commit funding for Security Pact in Monday conference
Somali government and international donors will converge in Mogadishu tomorrow for a security conference in what is expected they will commit to fund the Security Pact inked during the London conference in May.
Information Minister Abdirahman Yarisow said Sunday the meeting will review the progress made so far since the conference in May which brought together 42 international donors.
“This 4th December national security meeting has special importance for Somalia which follows the London meeting in which we agreed to collectively tackle the Somali security in collaboration with the international community,” said Yarisow.
“A Comprehensive Approach to Security was adopted to make Somalia save and the rest of the rest of the region as well as the entire globe,” the minister added.
The minister noted the conference will assess the implementation and review agreed pledges on the Security Pact.
The conference which was supposed to held in October according to timelines set in May will also review progress made by the federal government during the seven months period which among others include an agreement with the Federal and regional administrations on the composition of the National Security Architecture (NSA).
The NSA envisages the formation of a 22,000 strong Somali army including 4,000 special forces. It also creates a 32,000 police force to be distributed between the federal and regional governments.
The London Conference endorsed the NSA which forms the core of rebuilding Somalia’s security forces. The donors meeting in London asked Somalia to finalise the remaining aspects of the NSA ahead of funding which was to be take place October. The conference was however postponed to December.
The Federal and Member State governments last week endorsed a revised Prevention/Counter Violent Extremist national strategy which is a component of the Security Pact. The PCVE is co-chaired by the federal government and Sweden.
The co-chairs of PCVE will present a six months action and progress report in tomorrow’s conference.