By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, April 4 -- The Somali Mission to the UN's First Secretary Omar Jamal, previously of Minneapolis, has held press conferences two days in a row now in the UN auditorium. In a sparsely attended session on April 3, Inner City Press asked Jamal about human rights, the firing of UN Deputy in Somalia Christian Manahl, and his government's use of mercenaries. Jamal said that drone strikes against Al Shabab leaders are understandable, even welcome.
On April 4 Jamal appeared again, this time with a larger audience. In the interim a suicide bomber had killed ten people in the refurbished national theater, the day after the New York Times reported that things were getting better in Mogadishu.
Most questions Jamal faced were about the attack, of which he said he knew little; he speculated that the bomber may have had "inside information" that the Times piece was coming out and killed to try to counteract it.
Inner City Press asked Jamal to be more specific about drones: to which governments or entities has the Transitional Federal Government given approval for drone strikes, is the TFG informed of targets in advance? Jamal's answer mentioned the US, UK and NATO; then he refused to say more.
Other diplomats have remarked to Inner City Press that its rare for a "First Secretary" -- at most, a Mission's Number Three -- to hold press conferences, particularly two days in a row.
"Well, Omar Jamal is media savvy," said one diplomat. "His foreign minister isn't here?" asked another diplomat. "Why is he doing it? Is he trying to take over?"
The Somali mission has seen this before, as Inner City Press reported involving Deputy Permanent Representative Idd Bidl "Mogadishu in Manhattan" Mohamed. Some wonder, do we now have "Minneapolis in Manhattan"? Watch this site.
