Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the status of the peace talks in relation to Somalia. [23507/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I remain very concerned at the situation in Somalia. The country has been without an effective government since 1991, and despite an initial period of stability after Ethiopian troops and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces defeated the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in December 2006, the situation has worsened catastrophically in recent months. Fighting in Mogadishu since October 2007 has prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the capital, adding to the humanitarian crisis. In total, approximately one million people have been displaced since the start of 2007, while up to two million need humanitarian aid.

The newly appointed Prime Minister in the TFG, Nur Hassan Hussein, has committed himself to internal dialogue and pursuing a reconciliation process with the political opposition. Contacts were initiated with members of the opposition based in Asmara, and talks, facilitated by the Special Representative of UN Secretary General, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, between the Transitional Federal Government and opposition groups got underway in Djibouti in late May. The TFG and the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed an agreement on 9 June, calling for a cessation of hostilities between the two sides, and the eventual withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia and the deployment of a UN force.

The Djibouti agreement is good news, but many armed groups remain outside the process. Re-establishing security and the rule of law remains a major challenge. The security situation in Moghadishu and surrounding areas remains extremely poor, with further large-scale civilian casualties as a result of fighting between government and Ethiopian forces and opposition militias in recent weeks.

The first troops from an African Union-mandated peace support force (AMISOM) were deployed to Mogadishu in March 2007 but with less than a quarter of the planned 8,000 troops on the ground, AMISOM has not been able to bring any significant measure of stability. AMISOM's current mandate runs until next August and some consideration has taken place regarding a UN peacekeeping mission to succeed it. In May 2008 a UN Security Council Resolution was adopted in which the possibility of a UN peacekeeping mission in follow-up to AMISOM was mentioned — the first time in some years that the possibility has been on the table. However, UN Secretary General Ban has made it clear to the Security Council that, due to the prevailing political and security situation, the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia is not a realistic option for the time being.

The EU, including Ireland, will continue to extend whatever assistance it can to support the promotion of internal dialogue and national reconciliation within Somalia.