From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Mar 17 2010 - 07:18:38 EST
U.N. council wants probe of Somalia aid diversion
Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS
Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:39pm EDT
"There is a large consensus for the idea of an independent investigation
that should be carried out," Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller told reporters
after a closed door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the U.N. Security Council want an
outside investigation of charges of widespread diversion of U.N. aid to
radical Islamist rebels in Somalia, Mexico's U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.
<http://www.reuters.com/places/mexico>
A report submitted to a council committee by a U.N. panel of experts that
monitors compliance with U.N. sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea said up
to half the food aid for needy Somalis was being diverted to a network of
corrupt contractors, al Shabaab militants and local U.N. staff.
It also said a Somali businessman linked to al Shabaab who likely received a
ransom paid for kidnapped aid workers was a contractor for both the World
Food Program (WFP) and the U.N. children's fund, UNICEF, in Somalia.
Al Shabaab, which controls much of southern and central Somalia, has pledged
loyalty to al Qaeda and wants to impose its own harsh version of sharia law
throughout the country.
The 74-page report, seen by Reuters, outlines such serious problems that it
recommends U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon open an independent
investigation into the WFP's operations in the lawless Horn of Africa
nation, which has been without an effective government since 1991.
Heller, who chairs the Security Council's Somalia/Eritrea sanctions
committee, said his panel would also like to hear directly from the WFP,
which has been conducting its own internal investigation of the allegations,
and Somalia's transitional government.
Heller made clear there was no doubt the investigation would take place,
though he provided no details about its possible scope and timing. U.N.
diplomats said on condition of anonymity the council would need to agree on
certain key details before taking a decision to launch a formal inquiry.
WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said last week her agency "stands
ready to offer full cooperation with any independent inquiry into its work
in Somalia."
The WFP suspended its work in much of southern Somalia in January because of
threats against its staff and because al Shabaab was demanding payments for
security.
A WFP spokeswoman in New York, Bettina Luescher, complained of numerous
inaccuracies in the Monitoring Group's report, on which she said the WFP had
not been consulted.
(Editing by Todd
Eastham<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=todd.eastham&>
)
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----