Annan Calls On Somali Factions to End Hostilities, Recommit to Peace
NEW YORK, 28 FEB 2003--United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report issued today, calls on Somalia's faction-ridden leaders to cease "serious hostilities" and urges international donors to contribute generously and speedily to humanitarian and peace-building programmes there.

"It is those that have the weapons of war who continue to hold the people of Somalia hostage to the cycle of violence," the Secretary-General says in a <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2003/231">report to the UN Security Council, noting that individual faction rivalries and criminal activity rather than wider issues are behind the violence. "The Somali people and the international community will no doubt hold them accountable for their actions if they persist on the path of confrontation and conflict."