On Somalia, Fawzia Yusef J.Adam Sought Removal of Jarat Chopra, Reuters Now Passes Through

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 -- There's been an ongoing spat between the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group under Jarat Chopra and many of those he reports on, in Somalia, Eritrea and even Kenya.

 Back on December 5, 2013, Inner City Press exclusively reported -- and put online -- that Somalia had asked the UN to "terminate the contract" of Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group coordinator Jarat Chopra, in a letter obtained by Inner City Press and then published online here.

   Somalia has asked for a revision of the SMEG's last report, on the topic of "misappropriation of Somalia's public resources."

  The letter was signed by Fawzia Yusef J. Adam as deputy prime minister. 

 Now Reuters in Vienna has been handed Chopra's report against Adam, as well as the Shulman Rogers law firm and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud -- Reuters passed it through but does not put it online. Why?

  The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group's 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 before (and included) in its December 5, 2013 report 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 said the UN's Department of Political Affairs was 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.

   Since then, the issue has been explained to Inner City Press as more individually-based. Then the Somalia letter specifically asking that Jarat Chopra be fired was obtained.

  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. The Reuters pass-through scribe, full disclosure from Electronic Frontier Foundation's Chilling Effects project, has engaged in outright censorship, claiming his "for the record" anti-Press complaint to the UN was somehow covered by copyright and getting it blocked from Google's Search, filing online here.

   We will have more on all this. Watch this site.

  

In Somalia, Ugandans to Guard UN, of Sanctions Subterfuge & Somaliland's Aspirations, Censors

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 23 -- When the UN's Somalia envoy Nicholas Kay along with AMISOM head Mahamat Saleh Annadif took questions on April 23, 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: Somalia Asked UN to Fire Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group Coordinator Jarat Chopra, Letter Shows, Now What?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 5 -- Somalia has asked the UN to "terminate the contract" of Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group coordinator Jarat Chopra, in a letter obtained by Inner City Press and today published online here.

   Somalia has asked for a revision of the SMEG's last report, on the topic of "misappropriation of Somalia's public resources."

  The letter is signed by Fawzia Yusef J. Adam as deputy prime minister. Other sources in Somalia tell Inner City Press that with the voting-out of Somalia's prime minister this week, the position of Fawzia Adam and of this letter and the US-based outside counsel it cites to are now in doubt. 

  In the run-up to the November 26 closed door briefing of the UN Security Council on Somalia and Eritrea sanctions, as exclusively reported in Inner City Press and in greater detail in Beacon Reader, here, 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 said the UN's Department of Political Affairs was 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.

   Since then, the issue has been explained to Inner City Press as more individually-based. Then the Somalia letter specifically asking that Jarat Chopra be fired was obtained.

  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.

   (Actually, Inner City Press sources in Somalia link Fawzia Adam, the request and counsel to the UK - we'll have more on this.)

  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 said it will meet with Eritrean representatives in Paris now in December. We will have more on this. 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.