Somalia
-
On 21 October a public meeting of the Council is scheduled on Somalia. Uganda (which holds the presidency this month) has taken the initiative to call for the meeting. The Secretary-General and AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra are expected to speak at the public meeting. A private meeting will follow.
-
The Secretary-General’s report on Somalia is due by 1 September. Later in the month the Council is expected to hold a debate on Somalia most likely featuring a briefing by the Secretary-General’s new Special Representative Augustine Mahiga. This would be Mahiga’s first appearance before the Council since his appointment in June.
-
In July the chair of the Somalia/Eritrea Sanctions Committee, Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller, is expected to brief the Council (resolution 1844 of 20 November 2008 on targeted sanctions calls for the Committee to report to the Council every 120 days). Heller’s briefing is likely to focus on his trip to the Horn of Africa in April.
-
In August the Council will consider the Secretary-General’s recommendations on piracy off the coast of Somalia, which it had requested in resolution 1918. There are quite wide differences among Council members regarding the prosecution and incarceration of pirates captured off the coast of Somalia, and at press time it was unclear how this issue would evolve.
-
In May the Council is expected to discuss the Secretary-General’s Somalia report, due at the beginning of the month, and review progress in Somalia in light of the “three-phased approach” endorsed by the Council in May 2009. Special Representative Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is likely to brief the Council.
-
On 6 April in informal consultations Russia introduced a draft resolution on Somali piracy to Council members. A revised draft was circulated on 15 April. It would ask the Secretary-General to prepare a report within three months on possible options (such as special domestic chambers, a regional tribunal or an international tribunal) for
-
In March the Council is expected to focus primarily on the Somalia sanctions regime. The Sanctions Monitoring Group is due to report to the Sanctions Committee before its current mandate expires on 20 March. It may also provide information and recommendations regarding the sanctions imposed by the Council on Eritrea in December 2009.
-
In January the Council is expected to renew the authorisation of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The current authorisation expires on 31 January as decided in resolution 1872 of 26 May 2009. AMISOM’s AU mandate expires on 17 January and is expected to be renewed.
-
In November the Council is expecting a report on implementation of resolution 1846 of 2 December 2008 which authorised states and regional organisations to enter Somalia’s territorial waters to combat piracy. A Council debate with a briefing by the International Maritime Organization is a possibility.
-
At press time the Council was expecting the Secretary-General’s report, due 30 September, on progress in implementing the three-phased approach towards the eventual deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia (endorsed by the Council on 26 May in resolution 1872).
-
Somalia is not expected to be on the Council work programme as such in August. However, because of interrelated issues, including the work by the Somalia Sanctions Committee on a list of individuals and entities for targeted sanctions (including possibly persons from Eritrea), the pressure for Council action against Eritrea from Djibouti, and the dynamics created by recent developments in Somalia (including French personnel being held hostage), it seems inevitable that Council members will be continuing to discuss Somalia in various ways during August.
-
The Secretary-General’s report on implementation of the phased approach towards the eventual deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation, requested by the Council on 26 May in resolution 1872, is due by 30 September, but it is unlikely that the Council will take up the report in September.
-
In July the Council will receive the Secretary-General’s regular report on Somalia. A briefing is likely. There is also a possibility of a Council open debate due to the growing concerns about the security situation.
-
At press time Somalia was not scheduled to be discussed by the Council in June, but Council members are likely to monitor the situation closely in light of the recent increase in insurgent attacks against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
-
In May the Council is expected to discuss the Secretary-General’s recommendations in his 16 April report which concluded that a UN peacekeeping mission was not advisable at this time. In resolution 1863, adopted on 16 January, the Council said it would decide on this issue by 1 June. Consultations and a Secretariat briefing are anticipated early in May.
