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. More information on what the UK is doing to address the humanitarian crisis and save lives can be found here.
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