GO retort to UN Report

[Burn Notice]

Somalia: Puntland's leader says UN report is 'politically motivated'

22 Mar 22, 2010 - 12:52:30 PM

 

BOSSASO, Somalia Mar 22 (Garowe Online) - The president of Somalia's Puntland State government has condemned a new report by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia, saying that the report is "full of insults," Radio Garowe reports.

 

Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole" held a press conference Monday at the presidential palace in Bossaso, Puntland's commercial hub located along Gulf of Aden shores.

 

The president led a government delegation from the state capital Garowe yesterday by road and spent Sunday night in Qardo, the capital of Karkar region.

 

 

President Farole of Puntland waving to Bossaso crowd/Mar 22, 2010

The president's delegation includes: Interior Minister Gen. Abdullahi Jama "Ilkajir"; Finance Minister Farah Ali Jama; Security Minister Yusuf Ahmed Kheir; and Ports Minister Said Mohamed Rageh, a member of the former Adde Muse administration whom was reappointed by President Farole in last month's Cabinet reshuffle.

 

While in Qardo, President Farole's delegation met with local officials, community leaders and intellectuals who briefed the government delegation on local developments and expressed the community's needs. The president said that the administration is focused on improving security but has plans to invest in social sector and economic development as well.

 

 

Farole (center) with Fin. Mins. Jama (left) and Sec. Mins. Kheir (right)/Mar 22, 2010

On Monday morning, the president's delegation proceeded northward and ate breakfast with provincial and police officials at the Armo Police Academy, which is located in Armo district in Bari region. The newly appointed governor of Bari region, Sheikh Abdihafid Ali Yusuf, was present for the breakfast.

 

Welcome euphoria

 

Puntland's presidential motorcade roared into the port city of Bossaso midday today, with officials, community leaders and members of the public lining up along the paved road waving flags as the delegation passed through.

 

A reporter on the scene described the euphoria surrounding President Farole's arrival in Bossaso was "comparable to his first trip to Bossaso after winning the January [2009] election."

 

 

Puntland security forces in Bossaso/Mar 22, 2010

The president is expected to shore up domestic support in Bossaso, as his administration faces mounting international pressure on the piracy issue.

 

Most recently, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia mandated with monitoring the 1992 arms embargo on Somalia issued a highly controversial 110-page report to the UN Security Council.

 

The report makes allegations that the UN's World Food Program (WFP) awarded multi-million-dollar contracts to Somali businessmen who fund insurgents, and that officials in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) profited from selling foreign visas given to TFG delegations visiting foreign capitals.

 

But Puntland President Farole responded directly to allegations made in the report that Puntland's top leadership profits financially from pirate ransoms.

 

264 pirates jailed

 

Puntland's president condemned the Monitoring Group on Somalia's new report, saying that the writers drafted the report "without ever coming to Puntland."

 

The report's authors admit that they only visited parts of Somalia – namely, they visited Hargeisa and Berbera in Somaliland, a separatist republic in northwest Somalia; and briefly in Mogadishu, where TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is protected by African Union peacekeepers.

 

"Puntland has actively fought against pirates and we have 264 pirates or suspected pirates currently in jail," President Farole said, adding: "But our efforts – the people and government of Puntland – are rewarded by condemnation and insults against Puntland's leadership."

 

He noted that French naval forces on anti-piracy patrols transferred over to the Puntland government "30 suspected pirates" this month alone, adding that "most of these men hail from the Harardhere area."

 

Harardhere is a coastal district in the southern part of Mudug region, where pirates currently hold a number of foreign ships and their crews for ransom. The UN Monitoring Group's reports notes this "shift" of piracy epicenter in recent years from the Puntland town of Eyl further south to Harardhere, a town that falls well outside Puntland's jurisdiction.

 

'Politically motivated' report

 

The president said the Puntland government has hired advisers to seek legal avenues in light of the report's "outrageous allegations" against top government leaders in Puntland.

 

Observers say Puntland is the principal domestic backbone of the Western-backed TFG and a frontline region against the spread of extremism and terrorism in the Horn of Africa sub-region. Ethiopia, the West's most important ally in the sub-region, maintains strong and cordial relations with the Puntland government.

 

Al Shabaab militants who are fighting to topple the TFG in Mogadishu have failed to infiltrate Puntland, which has been relatively stable since the outbreak of the Somali civil war in 1991.

 

"The report's authors used sources that include politicians who are opportunists or are opposed to Puntland' s self-development," President Farole said, adding: "Even some of the report's authors are politically motivated to discredit Puntland as a way of achieving another hidden goal," President Farole added.

 

One of the report's authors, Mr. Matt Bryden, has familial ties to the dominant clan in Somaliland and is known to have actively campaigned for the recognition of an independent Somaliland. President Farole remarked that Mr. Bryden co-authored "reports critical of Puntland even during his time working for the ICG," a reference to the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.

 

Puntland's leader said the UN Monitoring Group's reports makes false allegations that specific "pirate leaders" live free in Puntland. But President Farole denied this.

 

"The man called Baqalyo is currently in Bossaso jail, but the report claims he's out free. Another man named Hanaano is now jailed in Yemen, but again the report says this man is free and lives in Puntland," Farole said.

 

The president said he believes that pirates are able to reform and to reintegrate back to society through social and political support.

 

"The report says the individual named Boyah is a notorious pirate leader. But Boyah admitted to have quit piracy before this administration was elected [in Jan. 2009] and has campaigned with religious leaders to discourage piracy across Puntland," the president added.

 

President Farole said he was "surprised" that the report's recommendations call for international support to build coastguards for the TFG and Somaliland security forces.

 

He said that the TFG has "never captured pirates" and Somaliland "claims to have jailed a few [pirates]."

 

President Farole underscored that the anti-piracy campaign must begin in Puntland where there is a functioning government "that has always opposed ransom payments" and a stable region to build training centers, like the Armo Police Academy which was built with UN support

 

 

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Puntland_s_leader_says_UN_report_is_p olitically_motivated.shtml