UN's Invitation to Eritrea for Somalia Meeting Was Revoked at IGAD's Demand, Sources Say

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 26, 2010 -- The Somalia meeting at the UN on September 23 featured a little noticed last minute disinvitation. The UN's Department of Political Affairs had invited Eritrea, which has at least in the past been a member of the regional group IGAD which has hosted the leaders of the Alliance to Reliberate Somalia and detractor say supports the Al Shabab rebels.

But the other IGAD members wanted Eritrea excluded. They prepared a draft Communique which criticized the UN for inviting Eritrea. To avoid the criticism, the UN unceremoniously disinvited Eritrea, just before the meeting began.

Little was said about this. In fact, the political coordinator of a Security Council member told Inner City Press he had not heard about the disinvitation, but saw Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar whispering to Eritrean Permanent Representative Araya Desta, and then his disappearance from the meeting room.

This Security Council member told Inner City Press his country thinks excluding Eritrea was a bad idea. They are a player, he says. Not having them present makes resolution less likely.

Analogy has been made, as it has with respect to most Security Council members other than the US, France and UK being willing to meet with Sudan's Omar al Bashir, to Slobodan Milosevic's participation in the Dayton peace process.

But several IGAD members told Inner City Press Eritrea is such a “spoiler” or troublemaker that it would be a “mockery” to have them present.

Uganda's Permanent Representative Rugunda confirmed to Inner City Press, let's just say, Eritrea was not present when the meeting actually happened.

Whatever one thinks of the wisdom of disinviting Eritrea, it is surprisingly how little has been said or reported about it. Hence this exclusive report, and questions which will be forthcoming. Watch this site.

At UN, Election of International Court of Justice Judges Is Archaic, Somali and French Electioneering, Cameroon as Spoiler

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/gasc1icj110608.html

UNITED NATIONS, November 6 -- Five judges for the International Court of Justice were to be elected Thursday, with both the General Assembly and Security Council simultaneously considering lists of nine names. In front of the Security Council, a representative of the Somali mission handed out flyers for their candidate Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf. A French representative handed out the biography of Ronny Abraham, and told Inner City Press that "if the African candidates get a majority, it will all have to be re-voted."

The other candidates are Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan), Sayeman Bula-Bula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Antonio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Brazil), Miriam Defensor Santiago (Philippines), Christopher John Greenwood (United Kingdom), Maurice Kamto (Cameroon), Rafael Nieto-Navia (Colombia).

Inner City Press asked South Africa's Dumisani Kumalo about the three African candidates. Pointing at the U.S. Deputy -- and soon to be Acting -- Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff, Kumalo said, "Now he has an African president, he's talking about judges."

The African Group endorsed the Somali candidate -- the Somali representative handed Inner City Press a copy of the endorsement -- but the candidates of DR Congo and Cameroon did not withdraw. And so messages flew back and forth between the Assembly and Council.

Some wondered, how did they do this before the Internet? Others were more practical: how would the new five rule on Serbia's case challenging the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence?

The process is archaic and Kibuki-like

"When five candidates (and no more) have an absolute majority in either body, the president will notify the other president of the outcome. The results are kept confidential by each president and are disclosed only to members of the second body after their own voting is concluded. (However, it is always possible that the numbers will leak from Security Council delegations.) In the event that the five candidates elected by one are not the same as those elected by the other, both will proceed (independently) to new balloting to fill the unresolved seats. As before, the results of each body will be compared only after the required number of candidates has achieved an absolute majority in each. This process will continue for three meetings, when, if all vacant positions are still not filled, the Council and the General Assembly may decide to convene a conference of six members (three from each) to recommend a candidate for the respective acceptance by the General Assembly and Security Council."

At 10:35 a.m., the voting began in the Security Council.

At 10:45, Jorge Urbina, this month's Council president, said the counting could begin, tied to the process in the General Assembly. The GA process was suspended, by PGA d'Escoto Brockman, to 11:30. The Council followed suit.

And in the Delegates' Lounge, the Ambassadors milled about....

Update of 11:26 a.m. -- In the big-screen TV in the Delegates' Lounge, George Bush's Rose Garden speech was played live, to a large crowd. One Middle Eastern Ambassador scoffed to Inner City Press, "Now he sees the light." Similarly, of the Non-Alligned Movement's letter to the Council about the bombing of Syria, he said "too late."

Update of 11:31 a.m. -- the fix may well be in. Inner City Press asked the DR Congo Permanent Representative how he likes the chances of his country's candidate. "We will elect one African judge," he said cryptically. He had no flyers in his hands.

Update of 3:25 p.m. -- four of the five have made it, there is still a run-off of the African candidates. Those who've made it are Ronny Abraham (France), Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh (Jordan), Antonio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Brazil) and Christopher John Greenwood (United Kingdom).

Now the run-off, between Sayeman Bula-Bula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Maurice Kamto (Cameroon) and the endorsed candidate, as the Somalis are emphasizing, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf. Oh, Cameroon...

Update of 3:37 p.m. -- a source inside the Security Council tells Inner City Press that "Yusuf the Somali" has won the Council vote...

Update of 3:59 p.m. -- The DR Congo, whose candidate received only two votes in the last General Assembly round, withdrew him from consideration, urging the GA to ensure representation of all great civilizations on the ICJ. Does this mean two more votes for the Somali?

Update of 4:06 p.m. -- the Permanent Representative of Guinea-Bissau, citing General Assembly Rule of Procedure 150, has thrown the Assembly into chaos, or at least silence, asking to know under which Rule an attempt is being made to call the next vote. Giunea-Bissau has its problems, but it apparently knows the rules...

Update of 4:18 p.m. -- the disagreement is whether there were two sessions or meeting in the morning in the General Assembly, or whether by suspending in morning, it was all a single meeting.

Update of 4:31 p.m. -- the Perm Rep of Guinea-Bissau insists "this is serious!" The Perm Rep of Jamaica, presiding over the meeting, says it was a single meeting in the morning. It is a stand-off. Only at the UN.

Update of 4:44 p.m. -- as negotiations continue on two tracks, on the legal question of "how many meetings" and the political question of one of the African candidates dropping out, Inner City Press asked the DR Congo Ambassador for his views, now that DRC withdrew its candidate. The numbers don't look good for Africa, he said, raising the specter of the Philippines candidate getting the final seat.

Divide and conquer, an African diplomat called it. Lack of unity, said another. Inner City Press suggested a "judge-off" in which the three remaining candidates each write a draft decision on this case. Let the most erudite or inscutible win!

Update of 5:10 p.m. -- the Representative of Cameroon has demanded an explanation, from the Legal Office, which the Jamaican chair says would take the meeting past 6 p.m.. "We are all very reasonable people," the rep of Guinea-Bissau says.

But where in the world in OLA chief Patricia O'Brien?

Update of 5:17 p.m. -- the Rep of Benin asks if the DR Congo candidate was entitled to withdraw. There is groaning.

Update of 5:29 p.m. -- the vote was finally taken in the General Assembly, and a 15 minute break declared to count the paper ballots. In the Delegates' Lounge, there was grumbling about Cameroon, and a question: who is working for whom?

Update of 5:55 p.m. -- the fifteen minutes have long since past, but still no announcement of vote. The GA Secretary says its simple, it's not a meeting "until you have the numbers." So still no meeting, by this definition. But it is six o'clock, and the session is opening again.

Update of 6:03 p.m. -- the dispute about "how many meetings" is now described an a philibuster. Meanwhile the Ambassadors of South Africa and Libya are summoned to the Council. There is talk of Somalia getting congratulated. Perhaps the fix is in.

Update of 6:06 p.m. -- in the General Assembly, the Somali candidate just won, with 116 votes, to Philippines' 52 and Cameroon 21 (and some bad feelings). Now the Council.

Update of 6:17 p.m. -- it's done. And even after the vote, Cameroon complained about the procedure, that the Council and Assembly voted on diffrent lists. Most says "sour grapes;" one Cameroonian tells Inner City Press that "promises were made" and questions in whose interest it is to put a "failed state" representative on the ICJ. But as some saying, looking at the resumes, just because it's a failed state doesn't make him a failed candidate. We'll continue to follow this, but for now, signing off, from the 2d story of the UN.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/gasc1icj110608.html

Ethiopian Troops Cast Shadow on Djibouti Talks, But Who Could or Would Replace Them?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc3djibouti060208.html

DJIBOUTI, June 2 -- The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia delegation meeting the UN Security Council laid down a condition for moving forward: there must be a timeline for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia. Some saw this as a softening of the A.R.S. position, in which actual departure was the threshold for discussion. But who would replace the Ethiopians?

When A.R.S. vice-chairman Abdulrahman Abdishakur Warsame emerged from meeting with the Council to take questions, Inner City Press asked if the Alliance would support a UN Peacekeeping force in Somalia. Yes, he said, we would support that. But earlier in the day, the Council was told that there are no countries waiting to send troops. So what if the Ethiopians were "re-hatted" as UN Peacekeepers?

Inner City Press asked Abdulrahman Abdishakur Warsame about reports that the town of Baidoa, defended until now by Ethiopian troop and those of the Transitional Federal Government, is surrounded and about to fall. I am not in Baidoa, he answered. "You should ask the TFG." Inner City Press did ask, the TFG's minister of information. He did not deny the town might change hands. Instead he said that the TFG has taken the decision to "stop all operations," including apparently operations to defend Baidoa, and Jowar before it. What these talks can or do have to do with events on the ground in Somalia is not clear.

UK Ambassador John Sawers afterwards told the press that perhaps the A.R.S. representatives here in Djibouti are having to take into account the less flexible views of their compatriots still in Eritrea. Inner City Press' sources say that "the A.R.S. members in Eritrea are demanding that the breakaway group that is now in Djibouti return to Asmara for consultation. The ARS members in Eritrea are actually accusing the SRSG and these 'UN mediated talks' as a U.S. inspired program to divide the resistance." Al-Shabaab's representative was even more focused on Monday, saying that the UN is the U.S.. Djibouti is crawling with U.S. military presence; there's talk of beer in the Sheraton Hotel and even a red light district.

Footnote: U.S. Ambassador Wolff, meanwhile, took a surprisingly (but perhaps understandably) low profile in Monday's talks in Djibouti. France took an even lower-key approach: their Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert is skipping Djibouti and will fly directly to Sudan. Never a dull moment...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc3djibouti060208.html

Somali President and Ex-Capital Baidoa Surrounded by Trouble, UN Council Told at Djibouti Talks

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc2djibouti060208.html

DJIBOUTI, June 2 -- As UN Security Council members waited to meet Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf of the Transitional Federal Government, they received briefings in a luxury hotel about the identities and backgrounds of those meeting with the TFG, and the security situation in Puntland, Somaliland and the South and Central portions of the country. The press was allowed to listen, but not to attribute quotes to any participant. Questions arose about whether the armed opponents on the ground, who are said to already control Jowar and to be massing around Baidoa, are sufficiently represented in these talks. In response, it was pointed out that some of the non-attendees are subject to UN sanctions, but live in and travel through countries serving on the Security Council, some on a permanent basis.

The UN's advice, it seems, is to participate in the peace process and then maybe, just maybe, they will be taken off the list. These same incentives are being deployed on opposition figures now leaving Eritrea for Djibouti, Yemen and, they hope, Kenya. To help them with asylum, the UN expects them to sign something.

With this gang, coercion may not be the right word. But the sincerity of commitments under duress remains dubious.

Reference was made to previous attempts to solve the Somali problems, meetings with up to 3000 participants in processes allowed to drag on for 18 to 24 hours, described as not serious. This process, it is said, is limited to the TFG and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (or a mere portion of the ARS, it was pointed out), with only 22 participants on each side. They are all staying in the same hotel, the luxurious Djibouti Palace Kempinski, apparently at UN expense. They talk with each other by phone, it was said, to not be seen together.

With the scheduled voting in New York on the Council's resolution on piracy only nine hours away, members were told that some of the best pirates are, in fact, cousins of President Yusuf. They are, its seems, excellent mariners, though inconvenient relatives at this time.

President Yusuf, fresh from having his plane mortar-attacked in Mogadishu, arrived with an entourage of twenty. The press were allowed for photos, and the beginning of Yusuf's speech. And then exile into the long marble-floored hallways of this luxury hotel, with bouquets of lush roses and metal detectors everywhere.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc2djibouti060208.html