(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres expressed optimism on Wednesday that the situation in Somalia is improving and he urged the international community to pledge their financial support to stabilize the situation in the war-torn African country.
"The security, political, social, economic situation in Somalia is beginning to show tangible signs of stabilization as result of the enormous efforts of the federal government and the people of Somalia and the wider international community," he told a Ministerial Pledging Conference on Somali Refugees in Brussels.
But he stressed in his opening remarks that "there is a long way to go until real peace can return to Somalia and conditions will stabilize sufficiently for large scale return." "That is why it is so important to support Somalia and Somali refugees today. I very much hope the international community will seize this opportunity and pledge their support," pleaded the UN official.
On her part, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, said European and African countries are working together to deal with the migration crisis.
"Today's event brings key partners together to discuss how to join efforts to give Somali refugees and displaced persons a better future," she said.
Abdul Salam Hadliyeh Omer, foreign minister of Somalia, said "the safe return, integration, progress of Somali refugees in their home soil is of great importance for us." "The tragedy of Somalia over two decades of civil war impacted miserably on the refugees to seek asylum across the world including neighbouring countries, in particular Kenya and Yemen," he noted.
Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, was also expected to arrive later today to take part in the one-day high-level meeting. EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, is expected to announce at the conference 60 million euro to support Somali refugees and displaced persons in Somalia and Kenya. Delegates from over 40 countries and organizations are attending the conference to discuss how to prepare for voluntary returns of Somali refugees from the region. Over 2 million Somalis remain displaced in the region, including some 1.1 million in their own country and 967,000 as refugees in the neighbouring countries. The majority (420,000) are living in Kenya.
Nearly 250,000 Somali refugees are living in Ethiopia and a similar number in Yemen.
Around 135,000 Somali refugees are expected to return in voluntary repatriation to Somalia between January 2016 and December 2017, Guterres told the conference.
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