On
Somalia, No
Q&A,
Kenyan Navy
Shelling of
Kismayo
UNaddressed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 29 --
After the UN's
envoy to
Somalia
briefed the
Security
Council this
week, this
month's
Council
president
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
did not
provide a
summary to or
take questions
from the
media.
The idea was
that when he
read out a
Council press
statement, he
would take
questions.
Twice
on August 29
UN Television
cameras were
set up for
this purpose.
First a UNTV
crew rushed to
set up their
camera in the
North Lawn
building
outside the
Council's
interactive
session with
the DRC and
Rwanda.
But that was
disassembled,
amid apologies
and promises
that the
Q&A would
take place at
12:30 by the
Security
Council.
But
rushing there,
after putting
four questions
to Rwanda's
Foreign
Minister
Louise
Mushikiwabo,
Inner City
Press found
the cameras
set up, but no
one from the
French
Mission. Soon
this stakeout,
too, was
disassembled.
The UN
announced that
it would
e-mail out the
press
statement.
There would be
no Q&A.
The
statement,
when it came,
said among
other things
that
"The
Members of the
Council
commended the
African Union
Mission in
Somalia and
the Somali
National
Forces for
their bravery
and for their
vital role in
providing a
more secure
environment
for the
Somalia
Roadmap
Signatories to
deliver an end
to the
Transition."
Among
the questions
that Inner
City Press has
is what is the
UN and Council
response to
the Kenyan
Navy firing
shells into
Kismayo on
August 11 and
killing at
least three
civilians
including a
pregnant
woman?
The
Security
Council
statement
commends
AMISOM -- what
about Kenya's
Navy and the
killing of
civilians?
On
August 28,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
associate
spokesman
Farhan Haq if
anyone in the
UN had any
response to
the related
riots in
Mombasa,
Kenya. Haq and
the UN had no
comment then,
nor in the 27
hours since.
And so it goes
at the UN.
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