Of
Somaliland
& EU Confab,
Oil & Idd
Beddel, UN
Fumbles &
Spoon-Feeds
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 7 --
The UN has
congratulated
itself for how
it
handles
Somalia, at
least of late.
The most
recent UN
Security
Council
resolution
ignored issues
raised by
Somaliland;
its letter to
the Council
wasn't even
distributed.
Now
comes word to
Inner City
Press from
Hargeisa that
president
Ahmed M.
Silanyo has
decided that
Somaliland
will NOT
attend the
European
Union's
"Somalia"
conference in
Brussels, per
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access
member
Mohamoud
Walaaleye.
This
comes after
Puntland
severed
relations with
Mogadishu --
Inner City
Press
asked for and
got UN envoy
the response
of envoy
Nicholas Kay,
formerly the
UK's
ambassador to
Sudan, here
-- and then a
critique by
Jubaland, not
yet responded
to.
Mogadishu
signed
a deal with an
oil firm
called Soma
Oil and Gas,
led by UK
former
Conservative
Party leader
Baron
[Michael]
Howard of
Lympne. (A
report being
inquired into
by Inner City
Press has it
that Somali
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
to the UN Idd Beddel
Mohamad, a/k/a
Mogadishu in
Manhattan,
claims he
formed a
similarly
named company
and so the
contract is
void.)
Somaliland
went
in another
direction:
Turkey-based
Genel Energy.
A proxy war
for
oil?
Before
the attack on
the Turkish
compound on
Mogadishu, in
the attack on
the
UN compound
it's reported
that UN Mine
Action Service
boss David Bax
was the hero.
Maybe -- but
he is accused
of sexual
harassment and
of
playing a role
in the passing
of genetic
information to
US
intelligence.
August
7 Q&A here.
The
UN stonewalled
Inner City
Press after
its exclusive
report to this
effect on June
22; reclusive
UN official
Herve
Ladsous through his
spokesperson
Kieran Dwyer
spoon-fed
a pro-Bax and
UNMAS spin to
a
friendly
scribe.
This
dysfunctional
approach is
unacceptable;
the
UN's spin on
Somalia and
environs isn't
working
either. Watch
this
site.
, 
