On
Somalia,
UN Opposes
Fast
Elections, At
Ethiopia's
Coming Out
Party
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 5 --
Near the end
of daylong
Somalia debate
in the UN
Security
Council,
Kazakhstan for
the
Organization
of Islamic
Cooperation
praised "the
Ethiopian
military
offensive in
central
Somalia."
Then
Ethiopia's
Permanent
Representative
took the
floor at the
final speaker
and said his
country's
troops were
welcomed in
Baidoa. It
was, one
Permanent
Representative
said, a sort
of coming out
party, the UK
following up
the London
Conference.
UN
envoy
Augustine
Mahiga
criticized
some
"breakaway"
Parliamentarians
who want to
move up the
elections to
April 30. To
some it was
strange: the
UN elsewhere
pushes for
fast
elections.
The
Presidential
Statement was
read out at
the beginning
of the
session,
before the
speeches. But
Horn of Africa
countries, at
least some of
them, were
consulted in
advance.
There
was talk of
a "Group of
Friends of
Somalia at the
UN." A
diplomat told
Inner City
Press that
"everyone will
be invited,
except Eritrea
and Israel."
US Ambassador
Susan Rice,
meanwhile, was
speaking
at and
tweeting from
the AIPAC
Synagogue
Initiative
Lunch.
Finland
spoke, its
Permanent
Representative
stopping to
tell Inner
City Press
there are
20,000 Somalis
in his
country.
Earlier
in the
debate, piracy
was the focus
of most of the
speakers. By
contrast,
South Africa
and others
wonder why
there is not
more focus on
the
land, and
Somalis
themselves.
Japan,
it emerges,
has something
of an
anti-piracy
base in
Djibouti. Its
Permanent
Representative
Tsuneo Nishida
said, "in June
last year,
Japan
established
its own
facility in
Djibouti to
accommodate
its personnel
and equipment,
towards more
effective
conduct of
these
operations."
Indian
Permanent
Representative
Hardeep Singh
Puri said he
hopes that
next time, the
Council votes
UN funding for
the upkeeping
of the Kenyan
ships,
speaking of
efforts to
"sanitize
the
Somali
coastline and
deprive Al
Shabaab of
revenues
earned from
port
facilities and
export of
charcoal. We
hope that the
Council will
agree to
include naval
assets for CoE
reimbursement
when it
considers
the extension
of AMISOM
mandate later
this year."
As
Inner City
Press first
reported, in
closed door
consultations
there was
resistance to
the UN paying
for the upkeep
of four Kenya
ships, with
France
described as
the "main
cheapskate." The
US, for
what it's
worth, is said
to have
supported UN
reimbursement
for the
upkeep of the
Kenya ships.
Later,
Inner City
Press asked
Italy's
Permanent
Representative
about the
ongoing
dispute
between his
country and
India after
Indian
fishermen were
mistaken as
pirates and
shot. The
Italians are,
India says, in
"judicial
custody."
A
UN official
told Inner
City Press,
and Italy
confirmed,
that former UN
official
Staffan de
Mistura is now
in India
working on it.
One of these
two
sources said
Mistura is
offering
compensation,
trying to make
the
problem go
away. Oh,
pirates...
, 
