By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unsc6somalia111809.html
UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- The UN's top envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdallah was asked Wednesday by the Press about the reported suspension of U.S. aid due to diversion to the Al Shabaab rebels, and the recruitment of Somalia refugees in Kenya to come back to fight Al Shabaab. He dodged both questions by referring to the ills of online media and web sites.
When Inner City Press asked about the recruitment of fighters including child soldiers in refugee camps in Kenya, Ould Abdallah replied that Somalis have "three hundred web sites... People write and print what they want." Video here, from Minute 0:54. But the sites reporting this include the UN's own ReliefWeb.int, here.
Likewise, when Inner City Press asked about reports -- by both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times -- of the suspension or delay of U.S. aid due to diversion of World Food Program funds to Al Shabaab, Ould Abdallah said "they campaign through web sites [that] they don't don't like help" from the U.S. or WFP. He added that it is difficult to prevent diversion. Video here, from Minute 7:46.
Then Ould Abdullah turned his comments on Inner City Press itself, saying "you are very specific. You ask only controversial or difficult issues." Video here, from Minute 8. Given that the alternative is to ask bland or easy question, "that's journalism," Inner City Press replied. "It is not journalism," Ould Abdallah said.
Ould Abdallah ended his 11 minute stakeout by asking an intern, "Who are you with?" When told the name of the cable television network, Ould Abdallah directed the intern to ask a question, since "he [Inner City Press] monopolize." Video here, from Minute 9:58.
Since Ould Abdallah's spokesperson Susanna Price has refused to answer e-mailed questions about who paid for UN-spoonsored conferences and the Transitional Federal Goverment's wages and security, and about Ould Abdullah's role in a Norwegian funded, Kenyan drafts Law of the Sea filing subsquently voted down by Somalia's parliament, to ask Ould Abdallah four questions after none for many month hardly seems a monopoly.
Ould Abdallah previously called for a moratorium on the reporting of the killing of civilians by AMISOM peacekeepers in Somalia, saying that these reports only hed to more strife. When Human Rights Watch and others called for him to retract the censorship call or resign, he did neither.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc6somalia111809.html
