The Community of the Sahel and Saharan States, Comessa, has urged the international community to help in implementing the UN relevant resolution in the Middle East. In a final statement issued at the end of a summit held in the Libyan town of Sirte, Comessa expressed its support for the peace processes in the Central African Republic, CAR, Sudan and Somalia and set up a Solidarity Fund to help in the development of the member countries. The following is an excerpt of the final statement broadcast by Libyan TV on 7 March; subheadings inserted editorially:

The final statement of the fourth ordinary session of the Presidential Council of the Community of the Sahel and Saharan States [Comessa], Sirte, 6-7 March 2002:

The fourth ordinary session of the Presidential Council of the Community of the Sahel and Saharan States was held in Sirte under the chairmanship of brother Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, the leader of the great 1 September revolution. The following attended the proceedings of this session:

Brother Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, leader of the 1 September revolution.

HE President Umar Hasan al-Bashir, president of the Republic of Sudan.

HE President Blaise Compaore, president of Burkina Faso.

HE President Idriss Deby, president of the Republic of Chad.

HE Alpha Oumar Konare, president of the Republic of Mali.

HE President Tandja Mamadou, president of the Republic of Niger.

HE President Ange-Felix Patasse, president of the Central African Republic, CAR.

HE President Isayas Afewerki, president of the Republic of Eritrea.

HE President Olusegun Obasanjo, president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

HE President Hasan Abdiqasim Salad, president of the Republic of Somalia.

HE President Gnassingbe Eyadema, president of the Republic of Togo.

HE Mathieu Kerekou, president of the Republic of Benin.

HH Abderrahmane Youssoufi, prime minister of the Kingdom of Morocco.

HH Mohamed Ghannouchi, prime minister of the Republic of Tunisia.

HH Gadio Cheikh Tidiane, minister of foreign affairs and minister of Senegalese abroad and representative of the Republic of Senegal.

HH Abdi Farah Ali, foreign minister of Djibouti.

HH Jagne Baboukar Blaise, foreign minister of the Republic of Gambia.

HH Fayizah Abu al-Naja, minister of state for foreign affairs and international cooperation of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The Liberian ambassador in Tripoli.

At the opening session, the conference accepted the Republic of Benin and the Republic of Togo as full members of Comessa, in compliance with he provisions of Article 7 of the community's constitution.

The session agreed to grant Liberia the status of observer, while discussing its application to be a member of the community...

The session then discussed the security, economic, social and cultural situation within Comessa. It expressed its satisfaction with the atmosphere of peace and concord and praised the bright economic perspectives in all member countries.

Situation in Central African Republic, Sudan, Somalia

Comessa's security and political situation:

The session discussed the Comessa's political and security situation and welcomed the concrete progress made following the orientations of the leader of the 1 September revolution, brother Col Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, aimed at achieving security and stability in CAR and Somalia.

The situation in CAR:

The session voiced its support for the outcome and the decision taken by the mini summit on the CAR held in Khartoum. It reiterated the Comessa's commitment to follow-up the peace process, national reconciliation and reconstruction of CAR. In this respect, it expressed its readiness to unite its efforts with the efforts of the UN and the OAU. The session agreed to set a Comessa committee to follow-up the situation in CAR and work for the deployment of observers to monitor the borders between CAR and the Republic of Chad in order to avert any violations and deploy the Comessa's military force in CAR.

The session urged the international community to back the programme of national reconstruction. In this respect. it decided to set up a special fund of support within the framework of the Comessa.

The situation in Somalia:

The session expressed its support for the interim national government in its efforts to rehabilitate the state of Somalia and rebuild this country...

The situation in Sudan:

Comessa leaders and presidents praised President Umar Hasan al-Bashir for his policy based on openness and national reconciliation and called on the sons of Sudan to resort to dialogue as a guarantee for Sudan's unity and territorial integrity. The session called on the Great Jamahiriyah and Egypt to continue their efforts within the framework of the Libyan-Egyptian joint initiative which has been accepted by all sides and called for merging the joint initiative with the IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development] initiative...

The Lockerbie case:

The leaders and presidents expressed their concern over the fact that the citizen Abd-al-Basit al-Miqrahi is still in prison...

The session urged the Comessa committee chaired by Nigeria to continue to follow-up this case...

Middle East

The international situation:

The leaders and presidents expressed their deep concern over the deterioration of the situation in occupied Palestine as a result of the Isareli policy based on force, killings, aggression and state terrorism. The session urged the international community to exert all efforts to implement the UN relevant resolutions in order to boost peace in this region. It also sent a message of solidarity to President Yasir Arafat, president of the [Palestinian] National Authority [PNA]...

Economic issues

The session agreed to grant the chairman of the Presidential Council the power to take any urgent decision aimed at achieving the aims contained in the Comessa constitution set up on 4 February 1998. This will allow the community to be always at the forefront of the groupings and the community's president to play a leading role in achieving the aims.

The economic issues:

The leaders and presidents of the member countries reiterated their readiness to support all activities of the community's institutions in order to achieve the freedom of movement of people and goods and turn Comessa into a free trade zone as soon as possible...

Comessa'a Solidarity Fund:

The leaders and president were told that the chairman of the Comessa's third session had signed the statute of the Solidarity Fund. In order to allow this fund to function as soon as possible, it was left for the presidents of the member countries to decide on the ways of supporting this fund and making their donations.

The establishment of an Economic, Social and Cultural Council:

The leaders and presidents took note of the proposal to reduce the number of the representatives of each country in this council from 10 to five people...

The leaders and presidents welcomed the offer by the president of Niger, HE Tandja Mamadou to host the fifth session of the Presidential Council.

Sirte, 7 March 2002.

Source: Libyan TV, Tripoli, in Arabic 1725 gmt 7 Mar 02