At
UN on Somalia,
Diplomat
Admits Probe
& Firing,
Mercenaries
Not Known
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 3 -- To
represent
Somalia at the
UN is not
easy.
Tuesday with
the Permanent
Representive
and his Deputy
Idd Bidl
Mohamed both
away, First
Secretary Omar
Jamal held a
press
conference
trying to put
the country in
the best
light. Inner
City Press
asked
about
mercenaries
and human
right
violations. Video
here, from
Minute
19.
Omar
Jamal would
not answer
about the
mercenaries,
and said that
rights
violations are
"under
investigation."
He said this
is "under
strict
investigation
by the
government,
there has not
been any
denial of
this." In
fact, there
was been
denial.
Perhaps
reflecting
his
Minneapolis
diaspora
roots, Omar
Jamal said the
Al Shabab's
suicide
bombers in
Mogadishu are
targeting
"soft targets
before
bars" -- how
many bars are
there, in
Mogadishu,
despite the
recent MSM
pitch of its
gentrification?
Inner
City Press
asked about
the TFG's
contract to
protect the
coast with
Nairobi
based Halliday
Finch, a topic
it has asked
the UN about,
without
answer. Omar
Jamal said, "I
am not aware
of that, I
think I
cannot
comment, I am
not aware of
it."
And
so Inner City
Press asked
about a
specific UN -
Somalia issue:
the
unceremonious
firing in
January 2012
of Deputy SRSG
Christian
Manahl, just
after
Ban Ki-moon
visited the
country.
Omar
Jamal said,
"I am aware of
his dismissal,
but I am not
going to get
into
the reasons.
On record, he
has been
dismissed. He
would be the
perfect person
to respond,
why and under
what
circumstances."
But
Ban Ki-moon
gives in to
host
countries,
most recently
in Sierra
Leone, and
then
those fired
don't talk,
perhaps hoping
for another UN
job.
From
the
UN's
March 30
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: On
Somalia, there
are reports
saying that
the
Transitional
Federal
Government has
contracted
with a private
security firm
based in
Nairobi called
Halliday Finch
to patrol its
coast. I
wanted to
know, one,
whether there
is any UN
involvement —
whether Mr.
[Augustine P.]
Mahiga is
aware of this,
whether this
constitutes
the use of
mercenaries,
the reason I
am asking this
is
that Halliday
Finch being
involved in
this transfer
of 17 pirates
who
were in the
Seychelles,
now
transferred to
Somaliland,
which UNODC
said it played
a role in,
issued a press
release about.
My real
question here
is whether the
UN is in fact
directly or
indirectly
involved with
a mercenary
firm in its
work in
Somalia.
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: No,
we’ll have to
get
information
on that; I
don’t have
anything with
me on that.
And
still
nothing...
Watch this
site.
, 
