Somalia’s Sovereignty, Palestinian-Israel Crisis tops Agenda at Global Summit in Kampala

KAMPALA:  Senior officials of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member countries on Monday started a two-day meeting here with the issue of Somalia’s sovereignty and the Palestine-Israel crisis topping the agenda.

The meeting was opened by Yalchin Rafiyev, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and head of the Azerbaijani delegation, who urged member countries to remain united amid complex global challenges.

“We continue to face challenges, we must remain united in making joint progress towards achieving a peaceful and prosperous world in a truly just and equitable world order,” Rafiyev said.

Hamza Adan Haadoow, permanent secretary of Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told the meeting that member states must also address the undermining of Somalia’s sovereignty by one of its neighbors. Adan said one of its neighbors reached a memorandum of understanding with its regional states to access the sea.

“We were requesting NAM delegates to support Somalia as a nation recovering from conflict. To help us safeguard our sovereignty, unity and integrity, which are the core principles (of NAM),” he said.

Ethiopia and Somaliland, a self-declared region of Somalia, signed an agreement allowing Ethiopia access to the Red Sea in return for its recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. Somalia described this as a violation of its territorial integrity.

Azerbaijan assumed the chairmanship of NAM in 2019 and is set to hand it over to Uganda later this week.

In the plenary session, Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN, urged the members to address the Palestine-Israel crisis saying that there is a need for a humanitarian ceasefire.

He said Palestinians are in urgent need of humanitarian aid like water, food, and fuel. “NAM forum from its inception has always supported the Palestinian people. We are confident that NAM will not leave Palestinian people outside,” he said.

Delegates from Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Togo, Mauritania, and Maldives among others seconded the push to put the Israel-Palestine issue on top of the agenda.