Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:15:09 +0100
AMISOM Tells ICP Probing Arms Transfers, VOA Flubbed Uganda Quote
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 14, 2014 -- When the African Union Mission to Somalia
took questions on the morning of March 12, Inner City Press asked about the
lack of transparency in weapons imports reported by the UN's Somalia and
Eritrea Monitoring Group and the 410 Ugandan troops now in-country as the UN
Guard Unit
AMISOM or its spokesperson Colonel Ali Eden Houmed said
<https://twitter.com/amisomsomalia/status/443672759391244288> as to the
arms transfers -- specifically, the lack of an October 3, 2013 packing list
<http://www.innercitypress.com/mogad4manhattan021814.html> - that
"investigations are ongoing by SFG and AMISOM.
<https://twitter.com/amisomsomalia/status/443672759391244288> "
SFG is the Somali Federal Government -- to which AMISOM says it gave its
own report on a high profile
<http://www.innercitypress.com/som1guardsmeg031214.html>
http://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png rape case in
Mogadishu back in August. But what happened after that? There's a lack of
transparency.
On the Guard Unit, Inner City Press asked if UN Peacekeeping and the UN
Security Council have themselves been transparent; AMISOM's Colonel Ali Eden
Houmed was quoted by Voice of America that "this special forces from Uganda
are not part of their mission. 'We do not have the fact of what these forces
are and they are not part of us,' he told the VOA [adding] that he only knew
that UN and Uganda had been conducting 'a secret negotiation' relating to
the security of the UN staff in Mogadishu."
To this, AMISOM's Colonel Ali Eden Houmed responded, "It was a mis
-interpretation."
Inner City Press replied, "Misinterpretation by Voice of America?"
VOA, which has tried to get the investigative
<http://www.innercitypress.com/mogad4manhattan021814.html> Press thrown out
of the UN <http://www.innercitypress.com/voavicp1un062012.pdf> through
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's current spokesperson
<http://www.innercitypress.com/funca1spoxnmd022414.html> , is run by the US
State Department. UN Mine Action Service boss David Bax was accused by
whistleblowers of providing US intelligence with information, including DNA,
from bombings in Somalia. A UNOPS letter cites Bancroft Global Development
and, separately, African Skies Limited (which which Bancroft has a contract)
<http://www.innercitypress.com/unprobe4coverup022414.html> , and referred
the issue back to management. Now what?
At the UN in New York after the Security Council met on March 11 about
Somalia and the Council's president for March Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg
came out and read a summary of the consultations, she was only asked
questions about Libya, North Korea and Ukraine
<https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/443492215223222272> . This is the
place of Somalia in the UN in New York; it is what allows for the lack of
transparency, and the lack of accountability.
Later on March 12, UN envoy Nicholas Kay will answer questions. Inner City
Press has already asked one
<https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/443683313430327296> . Watch this
site.
(image/png attachment: image001.png)