After Eritrea Monitor Resigns, UK Lyall Grant Says Disciplined, Let SEMG
Visit
By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up to Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, October 24, 2014 -- On October 7 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 was exclusively put online here
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/smeg1mahtaniicp.pdf> by Inner City Press.
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. <
http://youtu.be/_w2ATpNF8-8>
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
<
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/somali-government-as-corrupt-shebab-as-
deadly-as-ever-un-experts_1483976.html> 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."
But some question what the chairman of the SEMG knew, and how the
involvement of the now-resigned Mahtani in the report under review impacted
it. We'll have more on this.
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 <
http://youtu.be/p7YDv-Oocm4> .
On October 10, Reuters
<
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1117933> two UN
<
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=1117933> correspondents
dutifully regurgitated
<
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/10/us-somalia-charcoal-un-idUSKCN0HZ
2E120141010> the SEMG's most recent report, even called it "exclusive" -- a
basis on which Reuters pays
<
http://talkingbiznews.com/1/reuters-reporters-beat-stories-and-exclusives/>
-- 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
<
http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/programmes/africaProgramme/people/IndivAssociate
s/Mahtani_D.aspx> .
This puts Reuters' non-mention of SEMG member Mahtani's resignation is a
different light.
On October 13, AFP in English
<
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/somali-government-as-corrupt-shebab-as-
deadly-as-ever-un-experts_1483976.html> retyped its copy of the SEMG
report, no mention of regime-change scandal. This too is how the UN works
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/france1afponu092111.html> , or doesn't
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/afp2unicpout1pmess061812.pdf> .
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
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/smeg1mahtaniicp.pdf> :
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
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/sanctions3smeg120513.html> by Inner City
Press.
Bryden's departure was telegraphed in remarks to, and a report by
<
http://www.innercitypress.com/som1jimale072412.html> , 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.
Received on Fri Oct 24 2014 - 19:22:04 EDT