By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 11,
updated -- The
government in
Mogadishu has
signed a
contract with
a European
firm to set up
a Somalia
coast guard:
Atlantic
Marine and
Offshore Group
of the
Netherlands.
Somaliland
has responded*
by
"reiterating
that it does
not recognize,
and rejects
outright, any
attempt by the
Federal
Government of
Somalia to
control,
regulate or
seek to
exercise
Jurisdiction
in the waters
adjacent to
the territory
to
Somaliland."
Where
is the UN, its
Mission and
envoy Nicholas
Kay in all
this? It
echoes the UN
system's
ham-handed
attempt to
give
Somaliland's
airspace back
to Mogadishu,
a move that
led to the
suspension of
UN flight and
was in essence
reversed
at the Somalia
- Somaliland
meetings in
Turkey
Somaliland's
new
foreign
minister
Mohammed Bihi
Yonis,
formerly the
UN's deputy
enovy in
Sudan, where
Kay was the
UK's
ambassador,
has said "the
Government of
the Republic
of Somaliland
looks forward
to continuing
the Dialogue
on the basis
laid out in
the Ankara
Communiqué."
Meanwhile
it's
worth noting
that the UN's
own Somalia
Eritrea
Monitoring
Group most
recent report,
at page 328,
cited
"training
in
Turkey of
Somali cadets
at military
colleges,
schools and
academies,
training for
Gendarmerie
and Coast
Guard
personnel,
specialization
courses (like
“underwater
attack”), and
participation
in joint
exercises.. in
the absence of
notification
from the
supplying
State, and in
accordance
with
resolution
2093 (2013),
the Monitoring
Group expects
in the future
that the
Federal
Government of
Somalia will
notify the
Committee, at
least five
days in
advance, of
any support
and assistance
supplied by
the Government
of Turkey to
its security
forces."
Of the
Ethiopian
plane full of
weapons that
burned in
Mogadishu,
Inner City
Press on
August 9 asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
associate
spokesperson
Farhan Haq if
the UN's
Somalia
Eritrea
Monitoring
Group would be
looking into
it. Haq had no
comment.
So far
Nicholas Kay
has offered
condolence to
Ethiopia and
called it a
"cargo plane."
Then he and
the Mission
UNSOM moved on
to promoting a
video of his
Eid greeting.
What about
Puntland,
Jubaland,
Somaliland?
What is the UN
doing? In New
York, UN
Peacekeeping
boss Herve
Ladsous
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
June 24
question about
UN Mine Action
Service cowboy
in Mogadishu
David Bax
sharing
genetic
information
with the US -
then had
spokesperson
Kieran Dwyer
spoon-feed it
to another.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
will be
working on
this, amid anonymous
pro-spoonfeeding
trolls.
Kay said it
was a
"question for
New York."
Indeed. Watch
this site.
* -
Update of August
12: Here
as provided by
Free UN
Coalition for
Access member
Mohamoud
Walaaleye is Foreign
Minister Beni
Yonis' statement,
here.
, 
