By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
12 -- In the
advance copy
of the UN's
report on
Somalia, to be
issued as
S/2014/330,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon says
he is
"concerned
about the
potential for
confrontation
between
Puntland and
'Somaliland.'
I call on both
sides to avoid
escalating
tensions."
Many note that
Somaliland,
without the
quotation
marks Ban puts
around it, has
been more
peaceful than
Mogadishu for
some time -
and that the
UN system raised
tensions by,
for example,
handing
Somaliland's
airspace to
Mogadishu.
Ban's report
also says he
remains
"concerned
about the
continued
export of
Somali
charcoal" and
encourages
"the Security
Council
Committee on
Somalia and
Eritrea to
list the
responsible
individuals
and entities."
These advance
copies have
been known to
be changed
before "final"
release, in a
process for which
a description,
and then proposals
for reform,
were provided
here
and then here.
In
this advance
copy, Ban
"strongly
recommend[s]
to the Council
an extension
of the mandate
of UNSOM for
one year to 3
June 2015."
When
on April 23 UNSOM
envoy Nicholas
Kay along with
AMISOM head
Mahamat Saleh
Annadif took
questions at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked them
about the new
Ugandan guard
unit, about
the Somalia
Eritrea
Monitoring
Group and
about
Somaliland
including its
disputed
airspace. Video
here from
Minute 14:23.
Kay
said, "at the
moment we're
absolutely
clear
obviously on
the
international
legal position
vis-a-vis
Somaliland,
it's not a
recognized
state by
anyone. But
they have a
very strong
sense of their
own statehood
and
aspirations to
independence."
Kay
referred to
the
Turkey-facilitated
talks between
Somaliland and
the Somali
government in
Mogadishi,
including
about
airspace. He
said that UN
funds and
programs
operate in
Somaliland.
But UNSOM does
not:
Somaliland
points to the
mandate it was
given by the
Security
Council.
On the
Ugandan guard
unit, Kay said
they will
protect the UN
but work with
AMISOM. But in
March, AMISOM
spokesperson
Ali Aden
Houmed was
quoted by
Voice of
America
that "we do
not have the
fact of what
these forces
are and they
are not part
of us... UN
and Uganda had
been
conducting 'a
secret
negotiation.'"
Neither Kay
nor Mahamat
Saleh Annadif
addressed
this.
On
sanctions,
after Kay
recounted
improvements
in reporting
and
"information"
that are
underway,
Inner City
Press asked if
the Somali
letter
requesting the
ouster of SEMG
coordinator
Chopra has
been
withdrawn. Kay
said he has
not seen the
letter. Well here it is:
Inner City
Press exclusively
obtained,
reported
and published
it. Has it
been
withdrawn?
Footnotes:
Particularly
in light of
media freedom
issues in
Somalia -- and
in Somaliland,
on which the Free UN Coalition for Access has
worked --
we note that
the UN on
April 23
automatically
gave the first
question to
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
a
group which
has tried to
get the
investigative
Press thrown out of
the UN.
But
the question
by UNCA's
president
included how
many Burundi
troops are
there -- no
mention of the
UN's own
warning about
the
distribution
of weapons by
Burundi's
government to
its youth wing
-- and in
mistaking the
US Institute
of Peace,
where Kay
spoke this
week, with the
International
Peace
Institute,
most recently
reviewed here
and here.
In
April UNCA or
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance has
tried to privatize
access
to the
incoming South
Korean
presidency of
the Security
Council in
May,
positioning
itself as
middle-man
even after
FUNCA's
inquiry
and RSVP
find that the
statement an
event is for
UNCA members
only, or
now only
through UNCA,
is false.
Preaching
press freedom
from this UN
is difficult.
Watch this
site.
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