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Somali president calls on UN to deter spread of terrorism

25 September 2010 18:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. As armed Islamist groups continue to carry out a deadly insurgency throughout Somalia, President of the Somali Transitional Government (TFG) Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed called upon the UN Security Council Saturday to pass "a strong resolution with the view to deterring the spread of Al-Qaeda terrorists and their home-grown affiliates such as Al- Shabaab", APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

The statement came as President Ahmed addressed the general debate of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, which kicked off here on Thursday.

"We call upon the international community to address the menaces posed by the Al-Shabaab terrorism sponsored by Al-Qaeda. Any delay in addressing this clear and present danger would sustain and prolong regional instability and international terrorism," said Ahmed.

Decades of conflict and fractional strife have continued to ravaged the impoverished Horn of Africa country, which has not had a functioning central government since 1991. On Thursday, regional leaders held a mini summit on Somalia on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly debate here in New York.

The rising insurgency from the Islamist Al-Shabaab movement have landed the already crippled nation into an "abyss of chaos," the Somali president said.

Calling upon the international community to invest in the rehabilitation of critical state institutions, Ahmed noted that education and health-care infrastructures have "collapsed."

"I would like to emphasize the gravity of the current political and economic situation, and that unfulfilled promises will not, in any way, assist Somalia out of the current perilous condition," he added.

Islamist groups have gained control of much of south and central Somalia, while unleashing deadly attacks against the transitional government that is protected by 6,000 African Union peacekeeping troops.