DATE=10/04/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / SOMALIA HELP (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-267462
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Randolph Kent, has pledged vigorous U-N support for the new transitional national government in Somalia. V-O-A Correspondent Breck Ardery reports from the United Nations.
TEXT: Mr. Kent says the situation in Somalia has now turned from a "struggle for survival" to a "struggle for peace." Speaking to reporters during a visit to U-N headquarters in New York (Wednesday), Mr. Kent pledged practical U-N help for the transitional government of President Abdulqasim Salad Hassan.
/// KENT ACT ///
We will support an administration which can, in turn, support the people of Somalia. We will support its capacity building and demobilization so that those who carry arms and continue to disrupt society will be able to find alternative ways of living their lives in Somalia.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Kent says the international community should be patient with President Salad Hassan, pointing out he has been in office for just slightly more than one month. The U-N official says it will take time for the transitional government to gain support of various clan leaders and demobilize their militias. But Mr. Kent says an encouraging sign is the progress that is being made in organizing a police force composed largely of former militia members.
Somalia has had no real national government for about 10 years because of fighting among various clan groups. But other nations in the region, led by Djibouti, recently helped formulate a peace plan involving a transitional government under President Salad Hassan. Mr. Kent says the process of rebuilding a viable national government in Somalia will be difficult but the United Nations has no alternative but to support peace. (Signed)
NEB/UN/BA/LSF/JWH
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