A/HRC/10/85 page 6 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In accordance with the mandate established by the former Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1993/86 and with resolution 7/35 adopted at the seventh session of the Human Rights Council that renewed the mandate for a period of one year, the independent expert submits the present report to the tenth session of the Human Rights Council. 2. Appointed by the Council in March 2008, I undertook my first field visit to the Horn of Africa subregion from 28 June to 12 July 2008 and visited Kenya, Somalia, including “Puntland” and “Somaliland”, as well as Djibouti and Ethiopia. I presented my preliminary oral report to the ninth session of the Council on 19 September 2008. 3. From 22 November to 2 December 2008, I undertook my second field visit to the region to update the tenth session of the Council on the situation of human rights in Somalia. However, due to the security constraints (Mogadishu is under security Phase V while all other areas fall under Phase IV), I was not able to visit Somalia but focused on the neighbouring countries such as Kenya, including a visit to the Dadaab refugee camp. I visited Djibouti and Yemen, where I also had the opportunity to talk to newly arrived Somali refugees. The present report covers the period from September 2008 to January 2009. 4. In Kenya and Yemen I visited refugee camps and spoke with United Nations officials dealing with refugees. In Yemen, I also met with key ministers and officials of the Government involved with refugee affairs. In Djibouti, I participated in the preparatory conference on Justice and Reconciliation organized by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and with OHCHR as part of the Djibouti Peace Accord formalized in August 2008 between TFG and ARS. While there, I also spoke at length with the African Union Ambassador to Somalia. I had the opportunity to talk with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, the members of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) and Government (TFG) as well as with many NGO representatives in Yemen and Djibouti. 5. This report will focus primarily upon (a) my participation in and the outcome of the Djibouti preparatory conference; (b) my findings on the situation in Somalia based on my talks with refugees in camps and conglomerations, as well as refugee officials, in Kenya and Yemen; and (c) information gathered on developments in the field of human rights and humanitarian law in Somalia from United Nations and NGO sources. Based on the above, I would share some personal reflections and draw a few conclusions on the challenges of my mandate. And finally, the independent expert would like to offer some recommendations for consideration by the key players concerned. II. OUTCOME OF THE DJIBOUTI PREPARATORY CONFERENCE ON JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION 6. This report will begin with my trip to Djibouti, for two main reasons. Not only because this was the first stop (from 22 to 26 November 2008) on my trip schedule but also because it provides a good opportunity to start with developments in the political sphere, which is inextricably linked to the human rights situation in Somalia.