UNITED NATIONS, May 13 -- Norway's role in Somalia's Law of the Sea filing, arranged by the UN's envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, continued to be questioned Wednesday at the UN. The Secretariat's Hariharan Pakshi Rajan was asked what safeguards are in place that an oil-interested state like Norway does not benefit from its assistance to the filing of a poorer state like Somalia. He did not answer about any safeguards, but rather referred to a UN trust fund that poor countries can apply to. Video here, from Minute 15:31.
But this simply raises more question: why would a UN envoy like Ould Abdallah, rather than looking to the UN's own trust fund, seek out or accept the potentially self-interested assistance of a state like Norway?
Inner City Press asked this question at a UN noon briefing, and was then questioned in turn by a member of the UN spokesperson's office, who rather than answer suggested that Inner City Press should "ask Norway." Inner City Press did, and on May 13 received from the the Press Counselor to Norway's mission to the UN a statement that
"How much Norway has used on assisting Somalia to lay forward preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of its continental shelf to the UN; We don’t have a separate budgetary item for this, because the work is a part of Norwegian assistance to several African countries in this matter."
How much was the assistance? Which other African countries? The questions Inner City Press submitted to Ould Abdallah's spokeswoman have yet to be answered.
Ould Abdallah's boss, in a way, the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, said on Wednesday when asked that he had read Inner City Press' story on this, but didn't "see the connection here." Video here, from Minute 8:26.
What safeguards are in place when the UN arranges for a rich, oil-interested state to assist a poor country with its legal filings? Beyond the UN, when India assists Myanmar with its filing, does anyone thing that India doesn't have an interest in Myanmar's energy resources, on and off-shore? While that may be between India and Myanmar -- where Aung San Suu Kyi now faces more punishment, for an uninvited visit to her in house arrest -- when the UN sets up the deal, it should answer the questions. Watch this space.
