UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Somalia on Tuesday saw possible overall progress in Somalia's situation.
"While political, security and humanitarian conditions in Somalia are still fragile, I remain guardedly hopeful that the country will make further progress in these areas in the coming months and beyond," James Swan, the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, told the Security Council in a briefing.
This requires Somali leaders to put their differences aside for the good of the Somali people and to conclude credible elections as soon as possible. This overdue step will allow leaders to refocus their efforts on the full range of urgent national priorities, Swan said.
National elections in Somalia are now more than one year behind the constitutionally prescribed schedule, but progress has been gained in the past three months, he said.
The upper house elections have concluded and the pace of the House of the People (lower house) elections has progressed considerably. The Federal Electoral Implementation Team has signaled its intent to fill at least two-thirds of the lower house seats in the coming weeks, he said.
Thus far, 130 of 275 seats have been elected, with an additional 60 seats announced for competition shortly, said Swan. "I call on the electoral management bodies as well as Somalia's political leaders to accelerate and quickly conclude the elections for the House of the People."
He said 28 women have so far been elected to the House of the People, or approximately 22 percent. This falls well short of the 30 percent quota that Somalia's political leaders have committed to achieving for the two houses of parliament. He urged all Somali actors to redouble their efforts to meet this target.
"While political tensions among some Somali leaders continue to flare up sporadically, they have so far been contained and so have not derailed the electoral process. The risk remains, however, that a miscalculation could cause these tensions to spill over into conflict," he cautioned.
The United Nations has consistently sought to help Somalis reduce this risk, by directly engaging all parties and calling on them to address their political differences through dialogue. Together with partners, the United Nations continues to advocate for restraint, compromise, and pragmatic consensus-based solutions so that Somali leaders remain focused on completing the elections, said Swan. ■
