Mogadishu
in
Manhattan, After Cops Called on DPR, TFG
Says Controls 55%
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 17 -- Days after a fight in the
Somali Mission to
the UN in New York, reported exclusively by Inner City Press, the
new
Somali Minister of Information, Post and Telecommunications
Abdulkareem Jama came to the UN to describe the new government he is
a part of.
He said that many of the 18 new ministers are from the
Somali diaspora. Of former Deputy Permanent Representative Idd Beddel
Mohamed, who showed up at the Somali Mission saying that the new
foreign minister gave him authorization to return, only to have the
police called to throw him out, Abdulkareem Jama said that wasn't yet
decided.
The
chaos of Mogadishu, then, is echoed in Manhattan.
Abdulkareem
Jama
put a relentlessly upbeat spin on Somalia, saying that Mogadishu is
55% controlled by the Transitional Federal Government. Inner City
Press asked about reports of the TFG and Puntland using private
military contractors or mercenaries.
Abdulkareem
Jama
said that the contractor's work involves training for “VIP
protection” and for a coast guard. He did not address whether the
arrangement, which is shielded in secrecy, may violate the UN's
Somalia sanctions regime.
Inner
City Press
asked about the memorandum of understanding between the World Food
Program and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to deliver
food in areas controlled by Al Shabab, which has barred WFP.
Abdulkareem Jama spoke favorably of the deal. But WFP still refuses
to provide a copy of the MOU -- Inner City Press has asked -- and
even the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says
it has not seen the MOU.
Following
the Obama
administration naming the TFG as a user of child soldiers, Inner City
Press asked Abdulkareem Jama for the update. He said that child
soldiers have been identified and are being kept in a camp until they
reach the age they can decide what they want to do. Video here.
Abdulkareem Jama at
UN, 55% control & OIC MOU not shown
Of
once and
perhaps future UN official Charles Petrie, whom the UN claimed would
be working for the UN in Mogadishu, Abdulkareem Jama said Petrie
will be working for the EU or someone else, not the UN.
Of
the TFG's
deputy minister for water barring work by UNICEF and others and then
rescinding the order, Abdulkareem Jama said that the deputy minister
had been frustrated but had taken the order back. Again, the chaos of
Mogadishu, reflected in Manhattan. We wait to hear from Idd Beddel
Mohamed. Watch this site.
Footnote:
Somalia's
Permanent Representative said that on December 22, the
Security Council “will” pass a resolution authorizing 4000 more
troops for AMISOM. While technically the resolution is not yet agreed
to (or “in blue”) Council sources tell Inner City Press that is
the number: 4000. We'll be here.
* * *
As
Former
Somali
Diplomat Is Barred from Mission to UN, Is UNICEF Barred by TFG?
WFP Withholds MOU with IOC
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
15 -- As the UN World Food
Program continues to
withhold its Somalia Memorandum of Understanding with the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, even from other UN officials,
a
once
and perhaps future Somali diplomat has reportedly reappeared
at the country's Mission to the UN and had the police called on him.
Idd
Beddel
Mohamed, who Inner City Press interviewed
in 2007 as Deputy Permanent
Representative denounced UN payments to warlords, recently came
back
to the Somali Mission, according to sources, saying that the new
Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Oomar had
authorized him to enter.
But
the current
Permanent Representative said he'd heard no such thing, the sources
say, the police
were called to oust Idd Beddel Mohamed.
Meanwhile,
after
both
Mark Bowden, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for
Somalia and Ms. Kiki Gbeho, Head of the Somalia Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Inner City Press they had
not even seen WFP's agreement with the OIC, on December 14 Inner City
Press asked OCHA chief Valerie Amos about it.
Ms.
Amos answered
that OCHA can't compel any UN system agency to “coordinate” with
it. Video here.
Idd
Beddel
Mohamed previously at UN, ejection from Mission not shown
On December
15, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin
Nesirky if Secretary General Ban Ki-moon thought that UN system
agencies should reach and withhold secret deals. Nesirky said he had
nothing to add to what Mr. Bowden and Ms. Gbeho had said.
A
WFP spokesperson
has emailed offering to talk about the MOU and has been asked to
provide a copy. He replied "I can't email the MOU to you." Watch this
site.
Footnote:
at
the
December 15 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman
Nesirky about reports that the Somali Transitional Federal Government
has ordered UNICEF and other UN agencies to stop their work in
Somalia, for missing a meeting about the drought.
Previously,
Inner
City Press asked UNICEF's spokesman, but he is out of the office for
a long time (question have been backing up for the past two weeks).
Nesirky said that events have moved on and that the Somali block is
not (any longer?) in place. We'll see.
