UNITED NATIONS, US: The UN’s special envoy for Somalia on Thursday issued a stark warning to the Security Council about a sharp uptick in civilian casualties suffered last year in the violence-wracked Horn of Africa country.
Catriona Laing, a British diplomat who took up the UN post earlier this year, said both the insurgency by jihadist Al-Shabab militants and clashes in the breakaway Somaliland region were to blame.
“Conflicts in Somalia continue to take a heavy toll on civilians. Last year, we saw the largest increase in civilian casualties since 2017,” Laing told the council.
“Sadly, early data indicate a similar trend in 2023, with 1,289 civilian casualties recorded so far.”
Al-Shabab has been waging a violent insurgency against the government of Somalia for more than 15 years.
Flushed out of major cities in 2011-2012, the organization is still present over vast rural areas, mainly in the center and south of the country. It stages attacks regularly against security forces, politicians and civilians.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May last year vowing all-out war against the militants, who have also carried out deadly attacks in neighboring countries including Kenya.
Somaliland has meanwhile seen months of conflict between its troops and a clan militia challenging the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been internationally recognized.
The African Union maintains a force in Somalia, and the United Nations has a mission there.
UN resolutions call for the AU force (ATMIS) to be reduced to zero by the end of next year, handing over security to the Somali army and police.
Before the Security Council, Laing called on all partners “to consider providing support to fill the funding gap for ATMIS to ensure the mission can deliver its mandate fully, and troops do not go unpaid.”
The US envoy attending the meeting, Robert Wood, said Washington “remains committed to supporting the efforts of Somalia and the AU to build up Somalia’s security sector capacity.”
UN envoy to Somalia warns of ‘heavy’ civilian toll
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UN envoy to Somalia warns of ‘heavy’ civilian toll
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
