On
Somalia, UN & AU Defend Shelling of Markets & Mosques, Museveni
Vs UNSC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23 -- Since African peacekeepers in Somalia are paid less
than three-quarters of what the UN pays elsehwere, "they all want to go
to Darfur," African Union Commission
President Jean Ping told Inner City Press on Thursday.
Outside a closed door ministerial meeting at the UN on
Somalia, Ping and UN envoy Augustine Mahiga both defended the AU
troops' shelling of markets and mosques in Mogadishu.
Inner City Press has asked about the call by the UN Deputy
High Commissioner for Human Rights for an investigation of the AU
peacekeepers' shelling of civilian areas.
Mahiga said
that all what is being called for is a "Mapping Exercise" -- the same
term used for the report on genocide in the Democratic Republic of
Congo which has led Rwanda's Paul Kagame government to threaten to pull
its troops out of Darfur.
Days after
the Prime Minister of the UN-based Transitional Federal Government
resigned, Inner City Press asked the two men what this portends for
Somalia.
UN's Ban, AU's Ping, Somalia Prez, shelling of
mosques not shown
Mahiga said that a
new Prime Minister will be named. But that has happened before.
Inside the
meeting, three separate sources tell Inner City Press, Ugandan
President Museveni said that the UN "Security Council has donated
Somalia to a terrorist organization." When Inner City Press asked
Mahiga about the quote, he said it was another way of saying that the
international community should do more. Ya might say. Watch this
site.
* * *
Italy
to
Patrol Off Yemen, Frattini Confirms Before Stealth
Meeting, UK Too
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23 -- Italy will give Yemen an “integrated
satellite Coast Guard system” to patrol the waters between its
coast and Somalia, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told
Inner City Press on Thursday night at the UN.
As
Frattini left a
closed door meeting about Somalia, Inner City Press asked him if
Italy among with the UK is making such an offer to Yemen, at the
Group of Friend of Yemen meeting.
“Yes,” Frattini
answered, “we will confirm them tomorrow.” He said Italy is
coordinating with the UK, offering not only patrols but also to
“train coast guard officers” with “technical expertise.”
Inner
City Press
asked if this was directed at militant, presumably from Al Shabab, or
would also sweep up refugees. Frattini paused and said Italy would
“help the legal authorities of Yemen” to “better assist
refugees.”
Frattini at UN previously, patroling of Yemen not shown
Little
has been
heard about the Group of Friend of Yemen meeting, compared to the
meeting on Sudan the same day, or even the Somalia meeting Frattini
was leaving from. Some say that while Yemen is fighting insurgencies
-- even that it has lost control of large segments of its territory
-- it wants to stay off the UN agenda, and does so successfully,
including Inner City Press is told by using its
chairmanship of the Group of 77. The
meeting may not even be held in the UN. Watch this
* * *
At
UN,
Somalia
Post Handed from Ould Abdallah to Mahiga, of Yemen's G-77
Deal
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
9 -- The UN's envoy on Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdallah,
who called for a moratorium on press reporting of civilian deaths in
Mogadishu and cut a stealth deal about Somali off shore rights with
Kenya and Norway, has been relieved of his functions.
Sources
last
week
told Inner City Press that he was being replaced by Tanzania's
current Permanent Representative to the UN, Augustine Mahiga. The
affable Ambassador Mahiga has been seeking a UN job for some time. He
put himself up for the number two post in the UN Development Program,
running against his own foreign minister. Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon and UNDP's Helen Clark bypassed the African Group and gave to
post to Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica.
On
June 4, rather
than simply write the story without receiving confirmation, Inner
City Press asked
UN
Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe:
Inner
City
Press:
Ould-Abdallah.. is leaving in July and seeks to remain as
an adviser to the Secretary-General. I just want you to confirm that
he is leaving, and to confirm or deny that Augustine Mahiga, the
Tanzanian ambassador, is going to be named the SRSG
[Secretary-General’s Special Representative].
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I
have nothing on any appointments.
Inner
City
Press:
But Ould-Abdallah has said publicly that he is leaving
in July. Is that the case?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I
have nothing on that.
Inner
City
Press:
He said it.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I
have nothing on appointments for Somalia today.
Even
thought
Inner
City Press knew it to be true, confirmation was sought from
Mahiga himself. The Tanzanian Mission said he was in Europe thought
June 18, but they would ask him (the staffer said, "that is good
news"). But Mahiga, who previously asked Inner City Press to
email him articles, did not respond.
Now,
five
days
after Inner City Press publicly asked about Mahiga and Somalia,
Ban Ki-moon has formally named Mahiga to the Somalia post, which is
actually based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mahiga, stars and bars behind him, TFG not shown
On
June 9, before the confirmation, Inner City Press asked
Ban's
Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the UN had consulted with
the Transitional Federal Government about Mahiga. Haq said yes --
but we'll have more on this.
Several
sources say that Mahiga is
"so pro American, he'll make it all about counter - terrorism."
Then again, that has already been the UN's approach.
These
sources
note
that the UN way for a diplomat to seek a Secretariat job is for he or
she -- almost always he -- to beginning selling out his Group and
even his country, in exchange for the coming favor. The Secretariat
uses the needs and wants of Permanent Representatives to obtain
certain actions or forbearance in the budget committee -- which has
continued meeting this week, despite the announced conclusion in May
-- the General Assembly and in this case the peacebuilding
commission.
"Consider
Yemen,"
one
well placed source told Inner City Press. "With
all of the conflicts and problems, you might expect the UN to name an
envoy or otherwise get involved. But since Yemen managed to head the
Group of 77 this year, they use that leverage to tell the UN to do
nothing. In exchange for which, the Group of 77 does not move to hold
Ban accountable." Watch this site.
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