UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- The UN's envoy on Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdullah, fresh from being denounced and asked to resign by over 300 members of the Somali parliament, dismissed the criticism on Wednesday as being the product of web sites. "I don't consult web sites, except yours from time to time," he told Inner City Press.
He went on to say that the AP report of 300 MPs was "based on a letter not signed." He did not respond to the rejection of the Norway-funded deal he unilaterally made with Kenya, about Somalis' rights to their shelf continential shelf. As to the criticism that rather than mediating he has taken sides in the Somali conflict, he said "yes I take sides.. for peace, stability, legality, human rights." Video here, from Minute 21:33.
But he has in fact defended violations of human rights by Ugandan and Burundian troops in Mogadishu, who have fired into civilian areas trying to "drain the sea" to get at Islamist rebels. Ould Abdullah earlier called for a moratorium on the reporting of the killing of civilians by AU peacekeepers. Now he says reports by human rights groups are overblown.
Speaking of reports, UK Deputy Permanent Representative Philip Parham told the Security Council on Wednesday that he would "like to register our disappointment that the Secretary-General’s report was issued less than 24 hours before this meeting."
Ould Abdullah claimed that he had only read the first draft of his report, trying to explain why in person he was more dismissive of claims of aid diversion than the report was. What exactly is Ould Abdullah doing? He is a man of action. He does not read UN reports, he does not read web sites (except this one, from time to time). He is not based in Mogadishu but rather Nairobi, Kenya. Soon he will be in Turkey beating the drum for donations. But does he have support in Somalia? Apparently not. What is the UN going to do about this? Watch this site.
