On
Somalia, ICP Asked UN of Abass Siraji, SG's
Spox Called It
Assassination, Now
"Tragic"
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
May 11 – After Somali minister
Abass Abdullahi Sheikh Siraj
was shot and killed by the
bodyguards of the country's
Auditor-General, apparently in
a case of mistaken identity,
Inner City Press asked the
spokesman for UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres,
Stephane Dujarric, if Guterres
or the UN had any comment.
Dujarric said it seemed to be
an assassination. On May 11,
Inner City Press asked again,
from the transcript:
Inner City Press: I saw that
the Secretary-General at the
Somali conference describe the
death as Abass Siraji as
tragic and unfortunate. I
asked about it at the time,
and you said it seemed like an
assassination. Is that
no longer the view of the UN?
Spokesman: I'll… I think
whatever the Secretary-General
says overrides whatever I may
say. That's a rule.
Inner City Press: And I just
want to understand, when you
say that his speech to UNA-UK
was off the cuff, it seems
like… I mean, it was a
speech. UN News Centre
reported on it, so, like,
what's the problem with
releasing it? I don’t
understand.
Spokesman: It's not that
we're not releasing it.
It's just no transcript's been
done. We're going to
release the video, and I think
the video is as strong as the
spoken word.
From the
earlier UN's transcript: Inner
City Press: does the UN system
have a statement on the
killing of Somali Government
minister Abass Siraji, a
31-year-old Government
minister killed by the
[inaudible]?
Spokesman Dujarric: We
obviously condemn what appears
to be an assassination of this
minister and send our
condolences to his family and
to the Government of Somalia.
Inner City Press: Are
you… Because some people are
saying he was shot by mistake.
And I’m wondering, does the UN
have any role in security…?
Spokesman: I have no… a
role in providing his
security? No.
Inner
City Press:
No, no, in training, in this
case, the bodyguards of the
auditor general.
Spokesman: Not that I’m
aware of.
The UN Has
said nothing since, five hours
later. Back on January 26 when
the International Monetary
Fund's deputy spokesperson
William Murray took questions
at the IMF's biweekly media
briefing on January 26, Inner
City Press asked him about
Somalia and the UN, as well as
Mozambique and Ghana.
Inner City
Press asked: "The UN's envoy
to Somalia Michael Keating
recently said in New York that
the IMF is urging the
government in Mogadishu to
raise revenue, by means of a
tax on 'ICT' or telecom/mobile
phones. Is that accurate?
Please explain the IMF's
position."
After the
briefing, at which Inner City
Press' Mozambique question was
answered, an IMF spokesperson
provided this on Somalia:
“Somalia has one
of the lowest revenue to GDP
ratios in the world.
Increasing revenue
mobilization, from a low tax
base, is critical to Somalia’s
economic and social
development goals. To that
end, the authorities and IMF
staff reached an understanding
on the need to collect higher
nominal revenues in 2017
compared to those in
2016. The ultimate goal
is to progressively restore,
over time, revenue to GDP to a
level comparable to peer
countries.
In 2017, the authorities plan
to start implementing a more
formal tax system, which is
projected to increase tax
revenues from about 1.4
percent of GDP in 2016 to 2.0
percent of GDP in 2017. A
critical element of these
revenue measures -- based on
current law which the
authorities will start
implementing -- is revenue
from the telecom sector, about
$24.5 million in total in
2017. This is up from the
negotiated tax of $5.0 million
agreed for 2016. The
projection comprises of about
$12–14 million from taxes on
corporate profits and $10–12
million from sales taxes.
Additional revenue collection
from the telecom sector could
be achieved but will require
significant improvements in
revenue administration and tax
collection, while improving
security for telecom
operators.”
***
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