On Somalia, ICP Asks Kay of UN Guards, Somaliland, SEMG Regime Change
Letter
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 4 — After UN envoy Nicholas Kay briefed the
Security Council about Somalia on February 4, Inner City Press asked him
six questions.Video here <
http://youtu.be/21DkdJAYg08>, and embedded below.
Inner City Press asked Kay about plans to further expand the UNSOM
mission outside of Mogadishu. Kay mentioned Kismayo and also a Puntland
office. Inner City Press asked him about Somaliland. Kay said he has
been in “close contact” with the Somaliland government, calling “keen to
see a strengthened engagement of UNSOM in Hargeisa.”
Given previous positions, Inner City Press asked if by this he met an
UNSOM office in Somaliland. Kay replied, I think they are happy to have
UNSOM staff working in Hargeisa.”
Inner City Press asked about the UN Guards supplied by Uganda, does Kay
want more? He said hes asked for 120 more, and even more might to
necessary for UNSOM’s expansion.
On the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group, Inner City Press asked about
the range of parties listed as violating the sanctions, does UNSOM work
on this? Kay replied about helping the Somalia government build capacity
to comply, for example with weapons and ammunition controls.
Inner City Press asked Kay about the SEMG “regime change” letter it
exclusively exposed, see below. Kay replied quickly, that was the
previously SEMG, there is a new SEMG. But now new? We’ll see. In any
event, Kay’s responses were appreciated, including by the new Free UN
Coalition for Access.
Back on October 7, 2014 Inner City Press exclusively reported that a
member of the UN’s Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group Dinesh Mahtani used
UN SEMG time and letterhead for unrelated advocacy regarding Eritrea.
Mahtani’s letter wasexclusively put online here
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/smeg1mahtaniicp.pdf>by Inner City Press.
The UN on October 27 specified that it was Mahtani’s use of the UN
letterhead that was not approved.Video here
<
http://youtu.be/Mh_nCsWCcx0>. Tellingly, Mahtani’s resignation went
unmentioned by wire service write-ups of the SEMG report he was involved
in, which Reuters in particular is promoting(whilecensoring its own
anti-Press submissions to the UN, click here for that.
<
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1117933>)
The silence by Reuters, for which Mahtani used to work, and Agence
France Presse continues even as the two UN Security Council Permanent
Representatives, one on-camera, have spoken about Mahtani, and UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric has done so twice, both times on-camera.
Some social media users from the Horn of Africa citing Mahtani’s friends
in New York and Nairobi and correcting themselves that Mahtani quit but
was not fired are focused on how the letter emerged, projecting their
own fixations on Inner City Press (which beyond the Horn reports on
Argentinadebt <
http://www.innercitypress.com/imf2sovdebticp100614.html>,
Sri Lankan war crimes, Ebola in West Africa) rather than whether the
letter was appropriate.
(The UN Secretariat, even with Ban Ki-moon in the Horn of Africa, is
apparently just as distracted: spokesman Dujarric had no comment on the
Somali President versus prime minister spat when Inner City Press
asked,video here <
http://youtu.be/Mh_nCsWCcx0>.)
Former SEMG-er Matt Bryden, asked to comment on Mahtani’s letter, has
instead continued to ask for explanation of the view that by reporting
on the flow of lubricants to Eritrea’s air force he was micro-managing,
or making a telling showing of this UN sanctions apparatus.
The UN seems to hire Western-aligned advocates and then given them no
training or guidance. Then when they err, at least in this case, they
are disciplined and resign. But what is learned? What is changed? We’ll
have more on this.
//
On October 15, the Somalia and Eritrea sanctions committee chairman
Ambassador Oh Joon of South Korea, when Inner City Press asked of
Mahtani, said no, “we didn’t have a discussion on him. It’s been taken
care of, I think.”
Now on October 24, after the UN Security Council extended the mandate of
the SEMG with two abstentions, Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Mark
Lyall Grant about Mahtani, and the level of proof at this point of
Eritrean support to Al Shabaab. Video here.
Lyall Grant said that Mahtani was disciplined and resigned, that he
“exceeded his authority in issuing that particularly letter.” But as set
forth below, major Western wire services in reporting on the SEMG have
yet to mention the “regime change” letter. Lyall Grant said this time
there is “much less evidence” of Eritrean support for Al Shabaab, but
that Eritrea should allow the SEMG to visit Asmara. Again, how is this
different from “guilty until proven innocent”? The UK Mission
transcribed the Q&A on this:
Inner City Press: I wanted to about the Eritrea Sanctions and also about
the Monitoring Group. On the sanctions, is there from your point of view
evidence of Eritrea still supporting Al Shabaab because what they seem
to say is if there is no evidence, why should they let them in? It’s
kind of like guilty until proven innocent. And the other thing I wanted
to ask you about was the Monitoring Group. There was a letter that
emerged from one of the experts Dinesh Mahtani in which he basically
sort of tried to pick a new leader for the country. He basically said
he’d be a good leader for the country. He’s now resigned and I wonder
what are the implications of that given that he worked on the report.
What have you learned in terms of training for experts in the future. Is
there any follow-up I guess on this resignation from what some people
call a regime-change letter? Ambasssador Lyall Grant: I don’t have any
comment to make on this particular expert. As you say he has been
disciplined by the UN system and he’s resigned his position. He clearly
exceeded his authority in issuing that particular letter. On the wider
point, there has been very clear evidence in successive Monitoring Group
reports on support for Al Shabaab from Eritrea. In the latest report
there is much less evidence and that is encouraging but because the
Monitoring Group has not been allowed to visit Asmara, they have said
very clearly that they have not been able to investigate various strands
of evidence that comes their way. So if Eritrea is no longer supporting
Al Shabaab then why do they not allow the Monitoring Group to visit and
talk to whoever they want to talk to and then no doubt the Monitoring
Group will report that there is no further evidence of Eritrea
supporting Al Shabaab. In that case, the United Kingdom would be one of
the first countries to suggest that sanctions be lifted. So I think the
solution to this problem lies in the hands of the government of Eritrea.
Since October 8 not only Reuters but also Agence France Presse have
retyped copies of the SEMG report given to them — with no mention of the
SEMG scandal and resignation acknowledged right in the UN Press Briefing
Room on October 8.
Isn’t this like “reporting” on a panel of judges’ ruling without
mentioning that one of the judges just resigned after being confronted
with a letter he wrote about the subject matter of the case?
On October 15, when the UN Security Council met behind closed doors
about SEMG and the report, the bylined scribe of Reuters Mahtani-less
story about the report stood briefly in front of the Council, then left.
After an hour and a half when the meeting ended, Inner City Press asked
the sanctions committee chairman Oh Joon if Mahtani and his resignation
has been raised in the meeting. No, Oh Joon replied, “we didn’t have a
discussion on him. It’s been taken care of, I think.”
On October 8, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about Mahtani’s letter and if it was appropriate behavior for a
sanctions monitor. No, Dujarric said, adding that the letter was “shown”
to Dinesh Mahtani, who has resigned. Video here.
On October 10, Reuters two UN correspondents dutifully regurgitatedthe
SEMG’s most recent report, even called it “exclusive” — a basis on which
Reuters pays — with no mention that one of the SEMG’s members had
resigned after being exposed for pushing regime change.
Key fact: Dinesh Mahtani used to work for Reuters, see c.v. here.
This puts Reuters’ non-mention of SEMG member Mahtani’s resignation is a
different light.
On October 13, AFP in English retyped its copy of the SEMG report, no
mention of regime-change scandal. This too is how the UN works, or doesn’t.
Sources had told Inner City Press that Mahtani, the finance expert on
SEMG and previously on the DR Congo Sanctions group, was found
requesting favors from a member state, to which the SEMG reports.Here is
a document:
a letter from Dinesh Mahtani, ostensibly in his SEMG role, saying that
former Eritrean official Ali Abdu “has great potential to play a
stabilizing role in Eritrea with the country possibly headed to an
uncertain period in its history.”
This is hardly the first controversy in the SEMG — but usually the
members wait until they are off or on their way off the Monitor Group to
“let it all hang out,” as one source put it of previous SEMG chair Matt
Bryden.
The current chair, Jarat Chopra, has faced complaints from Somalia, also
exclusively reported by Inner City Press.
Bryden’s departure was telegraphed in remarks to, and a report by, Inner
City Press on July 24, 2012 when Security Council members from three
countries gave Inner City Press exclusive and negative reviews of
Bryden’s performance.
“He’s leaving,” one of them said dismissively and definitely of Bryden.
There was snarky speculation Bryden may have been angling for a book
deal, or a post with a group like HRW.
With Bryden the questions were largely of leaking, and for example of
micro-managing the Eritrean air force. Apparently that’s disputed: but
consider Paragraphs 60 to 75 of the 2012 report S/2012/545, down to the
“flow of spare parts and lubricants.” Those about Mahtani, the sources
tell Inner City Press, are “bigger… regime change on UN letterhead.” Now
Mahtani has resigned. We’ll have more on this.
Feb 4, 2015 photo by Matthew Russell Lee, Kay and spokesperson
EndFragment
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: (Inner City Press)On Somalia, ICP Asks Kay of UN Guards,
Somaliland, SEMG Regime Change Letter on Eritrea
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2015 10:08:45 +0000 (UTC)
From: Semere Asmelash <semereasmelash>
Reply-To: Semere Asmelash <semereasmelash>
To: dehai_at_dehai.org <dehai_at_dehai.org>
On Somalia, ICP Asks Kay of UN Guards, Somaliland, SEMG Regime Change Letter
By Matthew Russell Lee
https://www.beaconreader.com/matthew-russell-lee/on-somalia-icp-asks-kay-of-un-guards-somaliland-semg-regime-change-letter
http://www.innercitypress.com/somalia1kayicp020415.html
Received on Thu Feb 05 2015 - 06:08:59 EST