At their most recent meeting, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini decided to organise an international conference on the Somalia issue. This initiative may be described as stirring up the stagnant Somali waters, in order to find out why the world insists on ignoring the Somalia issue. Moussa and Frattini stressed the urgent need for a quantum leap in international action in Somalia, with the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League focusing international attention on the country and mobilising the resources needed to stabilise the country. Italian Ambassador in Cairo Claudio Pacifico has said that the planning for the conference is still in its preliminary stages and that it will be held in Rome, but not before the summer. "The conference hopes to highlight an international crisis that hasn't get the attention it deserves from the rest of the world," says Pacifico, who describes the situation in Somalia as more dangerous than other places that have received a lot of attention. "The humanitarian situation in Somalia is getting worse every day. The country has become a heaven for criminals and extremists who threaten the world. The matter needs the co-operation of the international community," says Pacifico. In their joint statement, Moussa and Frattini said that security and humanitarian assistance should the number one priority, "while in the medium term, we need to devise a comprehensive strategy with clear benchmarks and a timeframe for the stabilisation of Somalia". They suggested that a ‘Compact for Somalia' could be launched at the proposed international conference later this year. Moussa and Frattini stressed that the conference should be prepared very thoroughly, engaging the countries of the region, the African Union, the Arab League and IGAD. It must encourage the international community to send a strong signal of support to the Somali government, which must also try to achieve domestic reconciliation, in order to expand its own support base, and to develop properly functioning, transparent and fully accountable institutions. Hundreds of Somalis were killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes in January, the deadliest month in the war-torn country since last August, the United Nations' refugee agency said last month. At least 258 civilians were killed and 253 wounded as governmental forces clashed with rebel militia in the central regions of the country, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman stressed, citing local sources. More than 1.4 million people are internally displaced in Somalia, while 560,000 Somalis live as refugees in the neighbouring countries. The country was without a functioning government for nearly 20 years and is now nominally governed by an internationally backed transitional government that is trying to establish some authority over Somalia. Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation are terrorising shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia. Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union's Commissioner for Peace and Security, says that Somalia is now as big a threat to global security as Afghanistan and should not be ignored.
