Somalia
Diplomat
Says TFG
Approves
Drones by "US,
UK, NATO,"
Minneapolis in
Manhattan?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 4 -- The
Somali Mission
to the UN's
First
Secretary
Omar
Jamal,
previously of
Minneapolis,
has held press
conferences
two
days in a row
now in the
UN auditorium.
In a sparsely
attended
session on
April 3, Inner
City Press asked
Jamal about
human rights,
the firing of
UN Deputy in
Somalia
Christian
Manahl, and
his
government's
use of
mercenaries. Jamal
said that
drone strikes
against Al
Shabab leaders
are
understandable,
even welcome.
On
April 4 Jamal
appeared
again, this
time with a
larger
audience. In
the interim a
suicide bomber
had killed ten
people in the
refurbished
national
theater, the
day after the
New York Times
reported that
things were
getting better
in Mogadishu.
Most questions
Jamal faced
were about
the attack, of
which he said
he knew
little; he
speculated
that the
bomber may
have had
"inside
information"
that the Times
piece was
coming out and
killed to try
to counteract
it.
Inner
City Press
asked Jamal to
be more
specific about
drones: to
which
governments or
entities has
the
Transitional
Federal
Government
given approval
for
drone strikes,
is the TFG
informed of
targets in
advance?
Jamal's
answer
mentioned the
US, UK and
NATO; then he
refused to say
more.
Other
diplomats
have remarked
to Inner City
Press that its
rare for a
"First
Secretary" --
at most, a
Mission's
Number Three
-- to hold
press
conferences,
particularly
two days in a
row.
"Well, Omar
Jamal is media
savvy," said
one diplomat.
"His foreign
minister isn't
here?" asked
another
diplomat. "Why
is he
doing it? Is
he trying to
take over?"
The
Somali mission
has seen this
before, as
Inner City
Press reported
involving
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Idd Bidl
"Mogadishu in
Manhattan"
Mohamed. Some
wonder, do we
now have
"Minneapolis
in
Manhattan"?
Watch this
site.
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