Ahead of the May 2017 London Somalia Conference, the UK welcomes Somali agreement of a National Security Architecture, and announces £21m in additional support.
Africa Minister Tobias Ellwood met 25 members of the Somali Diaspora, invited by the Anti-Tribalism Movement (ATM), on 19 April to talk about the UK’s policy on Somalia which will be delivered through the London Somalia Conference.
On 17 April the Federal Government of Somalia and the Presidents of Somalia’s Federal Member States agreed a historic political agreement, to integrate regional and federal forces into a coherent National Security Architecture capable of gradually taking on lead responsibility for providing security.
The UK is playing a leading role in international support for improved security in Somalia, and will now provide an additional £21 million of funding. This will complement existing UK support, including training by British Military personnel of Somali National Army and African Union forces, police mentoring, and work on stabilisation and Countering Violent Extremism.
Security will be a key theme of the London Somalia Conference on 11 May, which will bring together the new Somali Federal Government, Federal Member States and international partners to accelerate progress and to agree the new international partnership needed to keep Somalia on track towards increased peace and prosperity by 2020. Somalia will continue to need substantial support across security, political reform and economic and social development to secure and build on the progress it has made over the last five years.
At a time when half the Somali population are without reliable access to food, the Conference is an opportunity to step up the international response to the ongoing drought and humanitarian need. Continued international support is needed to prevent widespread famine, without which the political and security progress Somalia has made since 2012 could be set back.
