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{
    "id": 96742,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/96742/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 290,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I agree with Mr. Maalim that that should be done. I hope that tomorrow morning or afternoon, we will have an opportunity to observe a moment of silence in respect to the departed brothers and sisters. It is also important to note that our President has sent a message of condolences in writing and has spoken to his counterpart. I have done the same and I believe this afternoon before Mr. Maalim walked in, I was speaking on behalf of this Parliament and the people of Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government in Somalia that was elected after a long process in Nairobi, was not a government that was imposed from outside; it was a long negotiated Government that took 14 months in Nairobi. It started from Eldoret to Mbagathi and they eventually agreed on a formula called 4.5 to give an opportunity to representatives of various clans and interests in Somalia to evolve a Government. As we know, when the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) came into play in Somalia, a process to reconcile them with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was started in Djibouti under the auspices of the United Nations (UN). They were then brought into the fold, elections were held and the current President came in. All this was transitional and everybody expected that these new leaders of Somalia would embark on the reconciliation of their country and various interests including clan interests, warlords and others. I believe that is going on, although not at a pace that is admirable. We hope it will work. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Farah Maalim is right and if he heard me on BBC and all the other international stations on Saturday, I did say - and I want to say it again - that Somalia has not got the attention it deserves or requires from the international community. The attention given, for example, to the problems in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere like Sri Lanka, is different from what Somalia gets. We are told that it costs the American army close to US$50 billion a month to mount the war that they are carrying out in Afghanistan. This region has asked the international community for just US$1 billion to assist in Somalia. But that has not been forthcoming. This region has asked the international community to support the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) with capacity and resources. But that has not been forthcoming. That is why, in the last meeting of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa, which was attended by all the Presidents of IGAD, we took a new direction. It will no longer be business as usual. The Summit decided to send in military advisors who are already in Mogadishu. We have realized that we must act as a region. That is why we have conditioned the TFG, as IGAD, that they must bring the forces in their country under a unified and centralized command, so that the troops that have been trained by Ethiopia, the security personnel that have been trained by Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda – and Tanzania has offered to train some more - can all come and operate as a team to bring peace and security to the country. So, we are no longer going to sit back and cry to the international community. We will do with what we can and what we have, to see how best we can support Somalia. Next week, there is an African Union (AU) Summit in Kampala. The decisions of IGAD in Addis Ababa are going to the AU to get support. I am happy to mention here that one of the major players in the AU, Algeria, which together with Libya, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, contribute 75 per cent of the AU budget, has offered unlimited access to their transport capability to transport whatever we have to Somalia to assist her. So, it is true that the international community has not paid much attention. On what Mr. Mbadi asked, again, I think it is covered by what I have said about what the international community is doing. We are dissatisfied with what they are doing and so, we must do something as a region. We hope and believe that, as leaders of this country, this Parliament will fully understand and appreciate that we cannot sit back, fold our hands, complain and cry. We must get involved and support Somalia. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of securing our borders, I want to assure Mr. Mbadi and the country that the Ministries of Defence and Internal Security are working very harmoniously with my Ministry on this. That I speak for them does not mean they are not available and this also covers what Mrs. Shabesh said. You may recall that only yesterday but one, a Somali national was arrested with 300 bomb detonators. That shows the vigilance of our security forces. That is not the only one. We have intercepted and arrest many similar issues coming into this country. The flow of small and light weapons has been curtailed to secure the security of this country. All of us can see that the incidences of gun crimes in this country have significantly gone down compared to a year or two ago. That is because of the extra vigilance and hard work that the two Ministries are doing. Thank you!"
}