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On Somalia, UN's Ould Abdullah Dismisses 300 MPs as Web Sites, Hasn't Read Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 -- The UN's envoy on Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdullah, fresh from being denounced and asked to resign by over 300 members of the Somali parliament, dismissed the criticism on Wednesday as being the product of web sites. "I don't consult web sites, except yours from time to time," he told Inner City Press.

He went on to say that the AP report of 300 MPs was "based on a letter not signed." He did not respond to the rejection of the Norway-funded deal he unilaterally made with Kenya, about Somalis' rights to their shelf continential shelf. As to the criticism that rather than mediating he has taken sides in the Somali conflict, he said "yes I take sides.. for peace, stability, legality, human rights." Video here, from Minute 21:33.

But he has in fact defended violations of human rights by Ugandan and Burundian troops in Mogadishu, who have fired into civilian areas trying to "drain the sea" to get at Islamist rebels. Ould Abdullah earlier called for a moratorium on the reporting of the killing of civilians by AU peacekeepers. Now he says reports by human rights groups are overblown.


Ould Abdullah on May 12, all critics are mere web sites

Speaking of reports, UK Deputy Permanent Representative Philip Parham told the Security Council on Wednesday that he would "like to register our disappointment that the Secretary-General’s report was issued less than 24 hours before this meeting."

  Ould Abdullah claimed that he had only read the first draft of his report, trying to explain why in person he was more dismissive of claims of aid diversion than the report was. What exactly is Ould Abdullah doing? He is a man of action. He does not read UN reports, he does not read web sites (except this one, from time to time). He is not based in Mogadishu but rather Nairobi, Kenya. Soon he will be in Turkey beating the drum for donations. But does he have support in Somalia? Apparently not. What is the UN going to do about this? Watch this site.

* * *

On Somalia, UN Belated Admits Rejections of its MOU With Kenya

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 15 -- A UN-promoted joint Law of the Sea filing by Kenya and those Somalis the UN works with, about Somalia's offshore rights, has finally been acknowledged by the UN as rejected by the Somalia parliament.

  On March 12, 2010, the UN web site quietly added the notation that the "Memorandum of Understanding" about the filing, pushed by Nairobi based UN envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah and funded by oil drilling Norway, "has been rejected by the Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government Somalia, and is to be hence treated as non-actionable."

  Inner City Press has reported extensively about this controversial MOU, which despite rejection in Somalia has been defended by the UN, Ould Abdallah and Norway. Another analysis by some Inner City Press sources is below.

  But the UN's quiet admission that its plan for the Somali coastline was rejected by Somalis comes as the UN's Sanctions Group on Somalia is promoting its findings about widespread diversion of aid to Al Shabab. As Inner City Press reported, the Sanctions report has subject last week to a staged leak, first to the New York Times and then to wire services. Some UN correspondents reported did not appreciate the exposure of how the document was shown. But it is relevant, and should have been reported in the initial stories.


Ould Abdallah at UNSC stakeout, rejection of his LOS deal not shown

Here now is an alternative telling of the UN - Somali story, an update to Inner City Press' previous reporting on the MOU:

From the [beginning, many] Somalis were furious about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), saying “Somali territorial waters would have been lost had this MOU succeed”. And any where that the Somali TFG delegations travel they were confronted by angry citizens asking them “why did they sign that MOU” and demanding answers from them.

While many Somali lawmakers (MPs) were criticizing the government about the controversial MOU with Kenya, and hand full of TFG ministers were shying away from defending it, Deputy Prime Minister ( he is also Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources) Abdirahman Adan Ibbi (AKA Prof. Ibbi) became the biggest lobbyist for the MOU - Weird huh!

Prof. Ibbi fought very had so that the MOU would go forward. In doing so he wrote a letter* to Ban Ki Moon on August 19, 2009 supporting the MOU – it was after the Somali parliament rejected the same MOU (and voted down on August 1, 2009).

What is serious about that letter was: it was signed by him, Prof. Ibbi, but is says it was written by TFG Prime Minister Omer Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke who was out of town at the time. When that letter became public Prof. Ibbi started to fade away into the background.

Prof. Ibbi had a backing of the TFG president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who also defended the MOU .

When the Somali PM Sharmarke realized that his deputy used his name, he (Sharmarke) wrote his own letter to Ban Ki Moon on October 10, 2009, supporting the Parliament decision. The funny thing is, Sharmarke’s office did not send that letter to The Secretary-General of UN as they should. Much later, realizing again, Sharmarke handed the letter to Somalia's Foreign Minister, Ali Jama Jangali so that he could hand deliver to Ban Ki Moon or at least send through appropriate channel.

Nobody knows whether Jangali handed that letter to The Secretary-General – at least it was not posted at the UN website as they did the previous letters regarding the same MOU.

While all these were going on, a group of Somali lawmakers, who were fed up with government, sent their own letter to Ban-Ki Moon asking him not to accept the controversial maritime deal between Kenyan and Somalia and remind him that Somali Parliament rejected it. Again that letter also was not posted at UN website and as far as we aware of, The Secretary-General of the United Nations did not respond the Somali MPs’ letter – at least he did send reply back.

We do not know what did it or which letter reached at the Ban Ki Moon’s desk. But we do know that there was an update at UN website on 12 March 2010 stating that: “The MOU has been rejected by the Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government Somalia, and is to be hence treated as non-actionable.

This has been a huge relief for Somalis in general as they realize that the MOU between Somalia and Kenya is non-actionable – which in legal term means NULL & VOID.

Somalis think this is very good statement from UN headquarters, why? The MOU between Somalia and Kenya had a backing of UN Somalia Office (based mainly in Nairobi Kenya). This has been a concern for Somali people. And that is why many believe that UN Headquarters did not acknowledge quickly when Somali Parliament rejected the same MOU.

This is also a news dawn for Somali political system, some say, as members of parliament realize that they can overrule any law (for Somalia) even if the president doesn’t approve it. There had been even a talk to impeach the Somali parliament speaker, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur (AKA Aaden Madoobe) as he did not act swiftly when the TFG government started the maritime MOU between Somalia/Kenya.

* Below is the link of Prof. Ibbi’s letter (at UN website)

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/ken35_09/som_re_ken_clcs35.pdf

You can compare with the Somali PM’s signature at following link (UN website).

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/preliminary/som_2009_letter.pdf

We'll have more on this.

* * *

Somali Continental Shelf Filing Rejected by Parliament Has Norway "Embarrassed," UN Admits

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- The Somali parliament recently voted over 90% against a deal cut by UN envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, using Norwegian assistance, to make a joint Kenya - Somali filing about the Somali people's rights to the continental shelf and its natural resources. Even before the vote, Inner City Press had repeatedly asked the UN by what right Ould Abdallah had coordinated the filing, without getting a straight answer.

   Now, with meetings about the Continental Shelf and the Law of the Sea taking place in the basement of the UN's headquarters in New York, Inner City Press finally got at least some answers.

  In a meeting on "The Regular Process of Marine Assessments" held by the UN's Office of Legal Affairs, Inner City Press asked a group of UN experts how they deal with a now-contested filing like the one about Somalia. At first, an expert tried to evade the question, saying it could only be asked and answered at another meeting down the hall about the Limits of the Continental Shelf. But those meetings are all closed.

  The master of ceremonies Peter Gilruth, director of the UN Environment Program's Division of Early Warning and Assessment, said he would try to answer, although he felt it might put his "head in a difficult spot." He said that Norway paid for the filings of some 10 African countries but that in Somalia, some "other elements.... may have tried to take the information in a different direction, causing the difficulty you refer to." Gilruth that moved the proceedings forward, asking if there were "any questions easier than that one."

  Afterwards, Inner City Press approached Mr. Gilruth, who said that the whole Somali filing snafu "involved embarrassment to the government of Norway." 

  Next to him Patricio Bernal, UNESCO Assistant Director-General and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, said that he had been working on this for ten years, he had coordinated with the Somali "government in exile" in Nairobi, and he could not understand the stink made in Somalia itself. He emphasized that the decisions in Continental Shelf meetings -- behind closed doors, mind you -- are "unappealable."


UN's Ban, Jean Ping and Ould Abdallah, Somali Parliament's rejection not shown

   Perhaps the ongoing snafu reflects that to deal with the Somali government in exile, or the TFG, or Ould Abdallah, is not to deal with the Somali people, and is no guarantee of support or legitimacy. Ould Abdallah, meanwhile, is reported trying to invite into the TFG process a notorious war lord. Inner City Press asked about this last week at the UN's noon briefing, and the Spokesperson said an answer would be sought from Ould Abdallah. But still none has been received. Watch this site.

As first reported by Inner City Press, the filing states that Ould Abdallah

"initiated the preparation of preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of the continental shelf of Somalia beyond 200 nautical miles... In the preparation of this material the SRSG accepted an offer of assistance from the Government of Norway... Both the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate have been involved in the preparation...

Inner City Press wrote about this and asked the UN and Ould's spokesperson Suzie Price, but never received an answer.

   On May, the question was put to Ould Abdallah and he said he is "no specialist," that he was unfamiliar with the filing that states that he prepared it. "Ask Norway," he said. Video here, from Minute 12:30.

  Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

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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