Wednesday September 14, 2022
Baidoa (HOL) - Somalia's main international partners, led by UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia James Swan, visited Baidoa on Tuesday, where they met with South West regional state President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen.
The international partners discussed political, humanitarian and security developments in South West State and Somalia and how partners can best support Southwest State.
Speaking to the media in Baidoa, the UN envoy James Swan said that the international partners welcomed the just-concluded formation of a District Council in Hudur.
"We stressed the importance of ensuring that people are accorded the space to express themselves freely, including freedom of assembly, organization, and media, as the people of South West State debate key issues on the public agenda," said UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia James Swan.
Due to the worsening drought, the humanitarian situation has grown increasingly dire in many parts of Somalia. Millions of people across the country face crisis and food insecurity emergency levels. Urgent scaling up of assistance is required to address worsening humanitarian conditions and rising needs.
Somalia's international partners said they were seriously concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation affecting South West State's residents and those who have arrived from elsewhere due to displacement caused by the drought.
"Mr. President, security remains a key priority in South West State. In our meeting today, we commended you, Mr. President, for your continued commitment to degrade Al-Shabaab in all three South West State regions. We also reaffirmed our commitment to continue working closely with South West State's security establishment in taking on the challenge. In that vein, we urge even closer cooperation among international and local security actors," said UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia James Swan.