Somalia leader says his advisers not helping Islamist militants
Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:02pm GMT
(Adds U.N. monitoring group recommendations, diplomats, paragraphs 7-9)
By John Irish
PARIS Oct 18 (Reuters) - Somalia's president said on Friday that nobody
close to him had been involved in the unauthorised diversion of government
weapons to Islamist militants and denied that a man U.N investigators linked
to the arms trade had advised him.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was responding to a report from the United
Nations' Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group that Somali army weapons and
ammunition were being diverted to open markets despite the government's
pledges to prevent its arms ending up in the hands of al Shabaab fighters.
The report, seen by Reuters, also accused Musa Haji Mohamed Ganjab, a Somali
businessman it said had acted as an adviser to the president, of being
involved in arms deals.
"I do believe that U.N agencies are not there for accusing, but are there
for improving the systems in place," Mohamud told France 24 television.
"The man you call Musa, there isn't someone called Musa who is my adviser or
has ever been in an advisory position in my office. I would have liked the
monitoring group to clarify where Musa Haji has ever become an adviser to
me."
The allegations, which have also been denied by Ganjab, came in a
confidential annex to the monitoring group's latest annual report that was
left out of the 482-page version published earlier this week. Reuters has
reviewed the unpublished annex.
As a result of the allegations of weapons diversion, the monitoring group
recommended that the U.N. Security Council give international maritime
forces the authority to interdict any sea vessel in international or Somali
waters that is suspected of trafficking weapons or related material.
The group also called for the council to limit the number of weapons
Somalia's government can import.
One senior Western diplomat said the council was seriously considering some
of the group's recommendations, though Russia, which holds a veto on the
15-nation council, has raised objections.
Any confirmed connection between government figures and the siphoning of
arms to al Shabaab could scare off foreign donors who have pledged billions
to rebuild the shattered nation after decades of chaos.
The annex alleges Somali-Canadian businessman Ganjab cultivated ties with al
Shabaab for years as he built a web of connections to boost his power within
Somalia's political and security establishments.
"If he does something wrong he does that on his own capacity," Mohamud said.
"I have not (had) someone ... called Musa Haji who has ever been an adviser
to me in my presidency over the last two years in office."
When asked whether anybody close to him had diverted money or weapons to al
Shabaab he said:
"It's not true."
Ganjab has said the monitors' allegations were an attempt to undermine the
Somali government and part of a politically motivated campaign to further
destabilize the conflict-torn Horn of Africa nation.
In an email to Reuters, Ganjab insisted that he has never engaged in the
arms trade or the distribution of weapons. (Additional reporting By Louis
Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Grant
McCool)