UN's New Somalia Report Cites Charcoal, Somaliland Tensions, UNSOM

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- In the advance copy of the UN's report on Somalia, to be issued as S/2014/330, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is "concerned about the potential for confrontation between Puntland and 'Somaliland.' I call on both sides to avoid escalating tensions."

   Many note that Somaliland, without the quotation marks Ban puts around it, has been more peaceful than Mogadishu for some time - and that the UN system raised tensions by, for example, handing Somaliland's airspace to Mogadishu. 

  Ban's report also says he remains "concerned about the continued export of Somali charcoal" and encourages "the Security Council Committee on Somalia and Eritrea to list the responsible individuals and entities."

  These advance copies have been known to be changed before "final" release, in a process for which a description, and then proposals for reform, were provided here and thenhere.

 In this advance copy, Ban "strongly recommend[s] to the Council an extension of the mandate of UNSOM for one year to 3 June 2015."

When on April 23 UNSOM envoy Nicholas Kay along with AMISOM head Mahamat Saleh Annadif took questions at the UN, Inner City Press asked them about the new Ugandan guard unit, about the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group and about Somaliland including its disputed airspace. Video here from Minute 14:23.

  Kay said, "at the moment we're absolutely clear obviously on the international legal position vis-a-vis Somaliland, it's not a recognized state by anyone. But they have a very strong sense of their own statehood and aspirations to independence."

  Kay referred to the Turkey-facilitated talks between Somaliland and the Somali government in Mogadishi, including about airspace. He said that UN funds and programs operate in Somaliland. But UNSOM does not: Somaliland points to the mandate it was given by the Security Council.

  On the Ugandan guard unit, Kay said they will protect the UN but work with AMISOM. But in March, AMISOM spokesperson Ali Aden Houmed was quoted by Voice of America that "we do not have the fact of what these forces are and they are not part of us... UN and Uganda had been conducting 'a secret negotiation.'" Neither Kay nor Mahamat Saleh Annadif addressed this.

  On sanctions, after Kay recounted improvements in reporting and "information" that are underway, Inner City Press asked if the Somali letter requesting the ouster of SEMG coordinator Chopra has been withdrawn. Kay said he has not seen the letter. Well here it is: Inner City Pressexclusively obtained, reported and published it. Has it been withdrawn?

Footnotes: Particularly in light of media freedom issues in Somalia -- and in Somaliland, on which the Free UN Coalition for Access has worked -- we note that the UN on April 23 automatically gave the first question to the UN Correspondents Association, a group which has tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

  But the question by UNCA's president included how many Burundi troops are there -- no mention of the UN's own warning about the distribution of weapons by Burundi's government to its youth wing -- and in mistaking the US Institute of Peace, where Kay spoke this week, with the International Peace Institute, most recently reviewed here and here. 

 In April UNCA or the UN's Censorship Alliance has tried toprivatize access to the incoming South Korean presidency of the Security Council in May, positioning itself as middle-man even after FUNCA's inquiry and RSVP find that the statement an event is for UNCA members only, or now only through UNCA, is false. Preaching press freedom from this UN is difficult. Watch this site.

   

Exclusive: On Sanctions, UN Monitoring Group Recounts Somalia Charcoal Disputes, Arms Embargo Filings, Eritrea Meeting

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 26 -- In the run-up to the November 26 closed door briefing of the UN Security Council on Somalia and Eritrea sanctions, the new Monitoring Group coordinator Jarat Chopra raised to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and others the shipping and sale of charcoal from Somalia in violation of the sanctions.

  The UAE and Oman did not immediately respond to inquiries about particular ships. The UAE prefers the re-sale of seized charcoal to its destruction under the supervision and advice of the UN Environment Program, despite concerns about corruption in re-sale that have been raised.

  The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group's most recent public report "estimates... an overall international market value of US $360 to $384 million, with profits divided along the charcoal trade supply chain, including for Al-Shabaab." The SMEG puts the Al-Shabaab share at 40% - and says "the remaining 60% is divided between the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) (20%) and Ras Kamboni (40%)."

  Sources informed Inner City Press that the SMEG had been ordered out of, or "Persona Non Grata-ed" from, Kenya. 

  Inner City Press exclusively spoke with senior representation of Kenya on this, and it was denied. Others say the UN's Department of Political Affairs is trying to resolve the situation, particular in light of the Security Council's rejection with eight abstentions of the African Union's request that the Council suspend the Kenya proceedings of the International Criminal Court for a year.

  In its last report the SMEG named an array of arms embargo violators in Somalia. Click here for Inner City Press'reporting on those violations, including by the UK, which(overly) "insider" Reuters for example neglected to mention in its gushing report.

  Now in its 120 day report to the Council, obtained by Inner City Press from multiple sources, it says "with regard to the arms embargo, the Committee considered three notifications for exemptions from the arms embargo pursuant to paragraph 11(a) of resolution 2111 (2013) [Australia, International Maritime Organization and Yemen] and received, for its information, four notifications pursuant to paragraph 10 (g) of the same resolution."

  These last were from Norway and the United Kingdom (two notifications) -- and from UNPOS, the UN Political Office in Somalia now UNSOM, run by Nicholas Kay. The UN had previously, it seems, violated its own sanctions.

  Kay has been talking up charcoal sanctions enforcement in the UAE and wider Gulf, along with long time hangers-on in what we call the Somalia Industrial Complex; we still await updates on the Somaliland airspace issue.

  On Eritrea, the SMEG is saying it will meet with Eritrean representatives in Paris in December. We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Kay Tells ICP No Quotes Around Somaliland, Aware of Bax Probe; Idd Beddel Rides Again, Mogadishu in Manhattan

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- When UN envoy to Somalia Nicholas Kay came out of the UN Security Council on Thursday there were only two journalists waiting at the stakeout. Such is the domination of the Syria issue at the UN. But Kay agreed to take questions, and Inner City Press asked him a half dozen.

The first concerned the text of his speech to the Security Council. On its third page it referred repeatedly to "Somaliland" in quotation marks, while the references for example to Puntland and the Jubba regions had no quotation marks. Why not?

Kay quickly said that there should not have been quotation marks around Somaliland. Inner City Press asked him about the demand for self-determination; he referred to the Turkey mediated talks, and that UN flights started going in again.

Inner City Press asked Kay about Kismayo and Kenya, and also about the widespread sanctions violations reported by the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group. Kay replied that there was recently a productive Troop Contribution Countries meeting; he said the export of charcoal from Kismayo fuels the conflict and must be stopped.

Referring to the attack on the UN Compound in Mogadishu and the loss of life, Inner City Press also asked about what the UN continues to say is an ongoing investigation by UNOPS into UN Mine Action Service chief David Bax. Kay said he is aware of the investigation, but only that.

  So here's a bit more: it is alleged that a component of the AMISOM mission provides personal security to Bax on what can only be called an irregular basis.

  This comes after the UN tried to whitewash Bax through the same pass-through now used to try to pre-spin the Syria chemical weapons report as "fingering" Assad. As Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said earlier at the same stakeout microphone Kay used, sometimes the media can be a weapon. Not for expose but cover up. 

  On the lines of the former, back on August 7 Inner City Press reported that Mogadishu signed a deal with an oil firm called Soma Oil and Gas, led by UK former Conservative Party leader Baron [Michael] Howard of Lympne. (A report being inquired into by Inner City Press has it that Somali Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Idd Beddel Mohamad, a/k/a Mogadishu in Manhattan, claims he formed a similarly named company and so the contract is void.)

  Now we can add: Idd sent letters to the UK company advising them that the contract they entered with the Somali government is void. Idd has also given interviews saying he would resign over this. Sources say this is creating havoc around diplomatic activity, as Idd did in the past, purporting to fire an intern who was subsequently rehired. Modadishu in Manhattan, indeed. Watch this site.

   

On Somalia, With EU & US "Too Cheap" for Naval Component, Amendments?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 1 -- At the UN on Somalia, it's war. Not on Al Shabaab, but about the Kenyan naval component of the AMISOM mission.

  In the UN Security Council, African sources in and beyond the Council say, European members and now the United States are "too cheap" to pay for the Kenyan naval assets they "used" to take and hold Kismayo.

  The AMISOM mandate was set to expire on October 31. In a rare session outside of Security Council chambers, with a short text "put in blue" by UN staff working from their homes, the Council agreed to roll over the mandate for a mere seven days.  Click here for Inner City Press in-person coveage of that meeting and vote.

  But, sources say, there is a move to put a longer resolution into blue -- without including the "naval component" of AMISOM.

  The non-Europeans are incensed; there is talk of amendments "from the floor of the Council" to put the naval issue forward.

  This follow-the-money issue is alongside another, about an exemption to allow the sale of charcoal built up in Kismayo. But to reduce this story to "paternalist" EU and US only caring about the welfare of Somalia -- can they buy weapons, can they sell charcoal -- would be misleading. 

   As several African diplomats put it to Inner City Press on Thursday, "the Europeans are just cheap." Watch this site.