UNITED
NATIONS, November 30 -- When the UK and its UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft took over the presidency of the UN Security Council at the beginning of November, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked that question and answer stakeouts be held after closed-door consultations meetings. Rycroft said he would, and lived up to it.
In November, Rycroft did eight question and answer stakeouts as well as two sit-down press conferences; his Deputy Peter Wilson did another three stakeouts for a total of 11.
If one adds in the stakeouts of Philip Hammond (ostensibly on Somalia but with Somalia Press questions not taken) and Justine Greening (mostly Syria and refugees and not development), it comes to 13 -- still less than predecessor Mark Lyall Grant's 14 stakeouts in June 2013, below.
The UK mission has gotten higher or newer-tech since Lyall Grant, Periscoping the stakeouts alongside @InnerCityPress and using other social media platforms. Are they, though, more accessible, more even-handed? Rycroft himself seems to be. On November 30 Inner City Press asked him about both Burundi and Yemen. As fast-transcribed by InnerCityPro.com:
ICP: On Burundi, beyond the lack of dialogue, seems like since the resolution the government closed down 10 civil society organizations and there’s reports today of neighborhoods being blockaded and searches of homes. Did this come up? In that context, is a trip enough?
And on Yemen, since there were supposed to be talks in the middle of the months and they didn’t happen, it’s now the end of the month and you’re the pen holder. Where is that process going?
Rycroft: "On Burundi, no one is saying that a Security Council visit on its own would be enough to solve a problem as difficult and complex as Burundi. But those of us who support it – and actually all countries support it, the debate is about when, exactly – all of us think there should be a visit, and it should play a helpful role in shining an international spot light on Burundi and demonstrating the importance of all the parties doing everything we’ve been calling on them to do, including having dialogue about the future.
Now, the issue about the NGOs and civil society came up very quickly in consultations this afternoon. When you look at the picture of what is happening in Burundi, it is significant that there continues to be violence and oppression and civil society is by no means free. And these are worrying indicators for us, which require us to do as much preventative diplomacy as we can.
On Yemen, it’s not been a particularly prominent issue in the month of November but I think it will get more prominent in the month of December. The reason it hasn’t been prominent is that the UN’s special envoy has been preparing the ground carefully with the talks, with the backing of the SC. But the talks themselves haven’t happened yet. The latest indications is that he is hoping to begin those talks in the first week or so of December, and the Council will be keeping a very close oversight of those talks and will be having some discussion with him during the US presidency."
Regarding a proposed trip to Burundi, Inner City Press understands that questions of timing were raised by Angola, and that Burundi stands poised to take over chairmanships in December at the African Union and the East African Community. Does that make a Council trip more or less likely? Watch this site.
Back on June 27, 20133 when the UK's then UN
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant took
media
questions at
the end of his
month's
presidency of
the UN
Security
Council,
predictably
most of them
dealt with
Syria and
relatedly the
Golan Heights.
But
at least three
of the 14
press
stakeouts he
did in June
were about
Somalia, not
least about
the deadly
attack on the
UN compound in
Mogadishu. So
on Thursday
Inner City
Press asked
Lyall Grant
three
questions
about Somalia.
First,
how did he
view Kenya's
role in the
Kismayo /
Jubaland
fighting?
Second, would
he acknowledge
that the way
the Security
Council
drafted the
new UNSOM
mandate has
resulted in
Somaliland
ordering
UNSOM out?
Finally,
Inner
City Press
asked Lyall
Grant if he
thought the UN
and its
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
should offer a
substantive
response, and
a confirmation
or denial, of
a Mogadishu
whistleblower's
allegation
that David Bax
of the UN Mine
Action
Service shares
information
with UN
intelligence?
Inner
City Press first
reported on
the allegation
on June 22.
Despite
direct
requests to
DPKO, UNMAS
and even
via Twitter to
UN envoy to
Somalia
Nicholas Kay
(clearly busy
after the
bombing, but
the
question is
related), all the UN
has said is
they won't
discuss what
the
whistleblower
sent to
Herve Ladsous.
But what about
the charges,
a simple yes
or no?
Lyall
Grant did not
answer this
last, but did
offer a
lengthy answer
on
federalism --
like in the UK
-- as the
solution to
Somalia's
problems. We
will add the
transcript. See
below.
At
the end of the
press
conference,
Lyall Grant
listed steps
toward
transparency,
including the
14 stakeouts
for which the
new Free
UN
Coalition for
Access had
thanked him.
Inner City
Press asked
about
one of the
demands in the
past of the
“Small Five,”
and now of
ACT -- that
the Council
not make final
decisions in
open debates
until it hears
from the
non-Council
members.
In
fact, on
topics on
which the
Council deigns
to hear from
the
non-members,
why not give
them some role
in drafting
and
negotiating
the thematic
resolution?
Lyall Grant
replied that
the UK is
flexible,
even to
“radical”
ideas like
non-Council
members at
times
speaking
before Council
members.
Reform
is slow in the
UN -- but a
response
should be
given to the
troubling
allegations of
the Mogadishu
whistleblower.
Updates should
be given
on
accountability
for the 135
rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese Army,
and now on all
steps Chad
takes to get
off the UN
child soldier
recruiters
list, while it
is getting
paid for
peacekeeping
in Mali.
Watch this
site.
Here
is the UK
Mission to the
UN's
transcription:
Inner
City Press: On
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access,
thanks, not
only for this
briefing, but
that you did
fourteen
stakeouts so
it may be a
new record, so
that was a
good in terms
of after
consultations.
I wanted to
ask you about
Somalia. Three
of the
fourteen
having been
about Somalia
and also, not
just the
bombing, but
it seems like,
although
there’s, I
know Mr
Feltman’s
there and he
is saying
things are the
most positive
they’ve been
in two
decades, it
seems like in
Kismayo, first
I wanted to
ask you
whether you
think that
Kenya has some
role in the
sense of
supporting at
least one of
the parties
that wants to
make a
Jubaland there
and also, in
Somalialand,
whether the
Council, in
writing the
new mandate,
may have –
obviously
there’s been a
lot of push
back. And
finally, I’ve
learned that
the UN Mine
Action Service
in Somalia, in
Mogadishu,
there seems to
be allegations
that somehow
they shared
information
with US
intelligence.
And this is
something that
the UN has
failed to
deny, despite
UN
whistleblower
there with
pretty serious
information so
I wonder... I
don’t know
what to say to
that. I know
that you are a
person that,
you’re a
Permanent
Member and you
look at the
Secretariat a
lot. Do you
think that
this is the
type of thing
that the
Secretariat
should either
come out and
confirm or
deny and do
you think that
there is any
way in which a
UN agency
should share
information
with the
intelligence
of a Permanent
5 Member.
Thanks.
Amb Lyall
Grant: Thank
you. I can’t
comment at all
really on that
last question,
Matthew,
because I am
not aware of
the facts of
that... I
wasn’t even
aware of the
allegation
that you
referred to.
On the role of
Kenya: I mean
Kenya has been
part of the
AMISOM force
for some time.
It wasn’t
there
originally in
Somalia as
part of AMISOM
of course.
They went
across the
border into
Somalia for
their own
reasons, but
they have been
integrated
into AMISOM
and therefore
they take
instructions
from the
AMISOM force
commander.
What is
important, in
our view, is
that there
should be a
proper
dialogue
between the
centre and the
regions. We
believe in the
territorial
integrity of
Somalia but it
needs to have
a federal
constitution.
It needs to
have a proper
relationship
between the
centre and the
regions. Many
countries,
including my
own, do have
such a system
and I think
that’s the
sort of
constitution
Somalia will
need if it is
to hold
together, so
we want
Jubaland, we
want
Somilaland, we
want Puntland,
we want all
the different
regions of
Somalia to be
constituent
parts of the
state of
federal
Somalia, so
that is still
to be worked
out. The
government is
new. The
transition has
passed, but it
is still a new
government and
those issues
need to be
worked
through. Now
we strongly
support the
President. He
recognises
what needs to
be done. He is
trying to work
on the Kismayo
issue, but
it’s not easy.
After twenty
years of civil
war and
conflict in
Somalia, where
large parts of
the country
are still
being occupied
and run by
Al-Shabaab, it
is not easy
for the
President and
the federal
authorities to
make progress
on the sort of
political
dialogue and
constitutional
arrangements
that we think
is going to be
necessary, but
there is, as I
mentioned
before, strong
Security
Council unity
on this issues
and there is a
lot of
international
support that
is going into
Mogadishu, so
I think, I’m
optimistic.
The situation
fragile, but
I’m optimistic
that Somalia
has seen...
the worst of
the history is
behind it.
, 
