By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 10 -- When UN envoy to Somalia Nicholas Kay briefed the Security Council on Tuesday by video from Mogadishu, amid snow in New York, he said the country has weathered the storm of the removal of prime minister Abdi Farah Shirdon and resignation of the Central Bank governor Yussur Abrar.
But what of Somalia's request, first reported by Inner City Press, that the coordinator of the UN's Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group be removed?
What about the SMEG's reporting on continued charcoal exports in violation of sanctions, which Inner City Press reported and published long-form here?
What of the UN's own transparency, in the long delayed and seemingly buried investigation of Mine Action Service "cowboy" David Bax, regarding whom a whistleblower wrote months ago to UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, as first reported by Inner City Press?
Kay said that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has a plan for 410 UN guards for the mission, which will soon be presented to the Security Council. But the Council approved by letter a contingent of 230 guards for its mission in Libya, which the government of Libya has yet to approve.
On Somaliland, Kay said it "continues to reject UNSOM's mandate," so "our operations there remain on hold." And what about the UN system's repeated moves to transfer Somaliland's airspace to Somalia? We'll have more on all this. Watch this site.
