HOL EDITORIAL
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The release of the report from the United Nation’s Monitoring Group on Somalia last week provides the UN Security Council a rare opportunity to reflect and reexamine the ever burgeoning UN humanitarian and disaster relief industry complex conveniently headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The Monitoring Group was initially charged to investigate and report to the UN Security Council numerous arms embargo violations and allegations of food diversions intended for needy Somalis to the forces of opposition groups fighting against the Somali government and other corruption and mismanagement of food shipments distributed by the World Food Program (WFP). It expanded its mandate to investigate a limited but serious alleged abuse of power and privilege by few members of the Somali Government.
The report rightfully named and identified a wide range of suspected corrupt practices by the WFP and local businesses and highlighted Somali government officials accused of selling European visas to the highest bidder and regional governments in cahoots with pirates and their thriving criminal industry. HOL acknowledges that some of the allegations in the report merit careful review and further investigation, while many others are hearsay from online sources and media chatter that in our view is without merit or foundation.
The report, however, utterly failed to disclose corrupt business practices of UN officials in Nairobi, or identify those Western nationals associated with the siphoning of millions of dollars of food aid and humanitarian assistance intended for the war ravaged women, children, orphans and the elderly in refugee centers throughout Somalia. It sounds too elementary for the authors to put all the blame squarely on the shoulders of the recipients and let the perpetrators at the policy level scot free.
If Secretary Ban Ki Moon and the UN Security Council are to act further upon this incomplete and somewhat politically charged report, they must comprehensively investigate along with it the burgeoning humanitarian industry in Nairobi, who keep professional Somalis at bay for fear of whistle-blowing and many suspect, nurture corruptive management and governance practices, reward unscrupulous behavior and maintain stateless status quo for their own personal benefit.
We urge the UN Security Council, the United States, and the European Union not to use this partial report as a basis to destabilize the fragile Somali government and to withhold desperately needed humanitarian and security assistance and must give the WFP and all the conveniently accused Somalis the opportunity to have their day in court. The WFP on the other hand must not ignore calls to seriously invest locally and begin to buy homegrown food products from hardworking Somali farmers instead of keeping a whole nation dependent on imported rations. To act upon this report entirely without giving the other side their right for defense, will be to unfairly elevate the three member Monitoring Group that drafted the report to act as if they are the judge, jury and the executioner all at the same time. As a matter of fact, upon the appointment of the Coordinator of the Monitoring Group by the UN, the Somali government immediately objected to his appointment and issued a press release.
We also urge President Sharif to take these allegations seriously and to establish a neutral Somali Presidential Commission including members of the Diaspora to independently investigate the alleged corruption by members of the Somali government, regional authorities and militia and to act swiftly upon the recommendations of the Presidential Commission. The Somali government must take immediate steps to clean up its slowly mounting image of ineptness and must show evidence that they have the capacity to govern, manage its affairs thoroughly and regain its once polished clean image that was a break from Somalia’s past.
Please send your feedback to [email protected]