As UN
Belated Speaks About Somalia, No Comment on U.S. Missiles and
Designation of Al-Shabaab
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 21 -- The
UN's envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdallah on Thursday proclaimed that
talks should be held with all parties in Somalia. Inner City Press had
asked him about the United States' designation earlier in the week of
the Al-Shabaab as a terrorist group. "I haven't seen the document," Ould
Abdallah said, adding that talks should be held with all parties. Video
here,
from Minute 1:39.
Inner City Press asked
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo about the U.S.'s recent firing
of missiles into Somalia, and whether the U.S.' designation of Al-Shabaab
as terrorists will be helpful to dialogue in Somalia. Video
here,
from Minute 3:01. Kumalo responded combatively that the Security Council
wants to move ahead, "rather than pick up on this thing or the next...
on who's left handed and who's right handed, on who didn't go to
church." Somalia, of course, is fundamentally Muslim, as is the Al-Shabaab.
Pressed about the U.S. missiles, Kumalo said, "I'm not saying the
missile attack was right... you can pick whatever you like, you have
that luxury, I don't." Inner City Press interjected that, for the
record, the press is not cavalier about suffering in Somalia. It is just
skeptical of a sudden glowing report projecting 27,000 UN peacekeepers
when the Council won't even discuss, much less rebuke, missile attacks
on and an ongoing occupation of Somalia.
UN's
Ould Abdallah on March 20, flags in
background
Inner City Press also
asked Ould Abdallah about the reported incident in which a Somali member
of parliament stated he was beaten by UNICEF's guards in Baidoa, an
incident which UNICEF said would be investigated but regarding which no
further information has been provided. Video
here
from Minute 4:44. Ould Abdallah in his response called this "unfortunate
violence" and said that soon impunity will end. We'll see. Ould Abdallah
further comments can be reviewed
here.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
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