Highlights

Hope for the Horn of Africa

At the International Donor Conference hosted by the European Union in Brussels on 23 April, the Union pledged €72 million to improve security in Somalia. The total funding to be provided by the international community will amount to about €165 million. The pledges committed fully met the expressed requirements.

This major meeting was co-chaired by the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the African Union chairperson Jean Ping. The president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, participated in the conference. A working lunch was hosted by the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.

The conference discussed how the international community could best assist Somalia's new government, support the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia and contribute to stabilising the country. There is now real hope that, after years of suffering, the Somali people will finally be able to live in peace and rule of law will be restored.

The EU is the largest donor to Somalia. It is also leading a naval operation, EU NAVFOR Atalanta, to provide protection for World Food Programme aid convoys and to help prevent and repress acts of piracy and armed robbery along the country's coast. Improving security and stability across Somalia is vital to tackle the piracy epidemic. "More security on the ground will mean less piracy on the seas," declared Ban Ki-moon.

More information:

Communique(pdf)

Council webcast of press conference