SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON SOMALIA

23 May 2016
The members of the Security Council welcomed the opportunity to engage in dialogue with
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the Federal Government of Somalia, regional leaders,
Somali civil society and womens groups during their visit to Mogadishu on 19 May 2016.
The members of the Security Council welcomed the political and security progress in Somalia
since the transition ended in 2012 and underscored the need to accelerate Somalias
peacebuilding and state-building process. They underlined that holding a peaceful, transparent
electoral process in 2016 will mark a historic step forward for all Somalis, and will be
fundamental for the countrys continued progress towards democracy and stability. The
members of the Security Council recalled Security Council resolution 2232 (2015), which set
out their expectation that there shall be no extension of the electoral process timelines in
Somalia.
In this context the members of the Security Council welcomed the electoral process set out in
the decree issued by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on 22 May 2016, which they
noted should enable necessary technical preparation and implementation without further
delay. The members of the Security Council noted that Somali leaders have worked hard to
achieve agreement on the modalities of the electoral model and commended President Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud and the Federal Government of Somalia for their actions to ensure the
timelines for the electoral process are upheld.
The members of the Security Council emphasised that the challenge now is to prepare and
implement the elections and renewed their call on all Somali stakeholders to work
constructively to that end, without delay.
The members of the Security Council noted that this is a historic opportunity to deliver more
representative governance to the people of Somalia. In this respect they commended the
Federal Governments commitment to reserve 30 percent of seats in the upper and lower
houses for women. The members of the Security Council also emphasised the importance of
adhering to the political road map between now and 2020, in particular in order to reach oneperson, one-vote elections by 2020.
The members of the Security Council further underlined their determination to play a
constructive and active role in the months ahead.

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