By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

UNITED NATIONS, New York – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Security Council Thursday that the crisis in the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation which has been devastated by factional fighting and without a functioning central government since 1991 can no longer be ignored.

“To prevent the situation from deteriorating further, and spilling over into the region and further afield, we should join the dots. In Somalia the international community still has some good cards [including the current Government]. It should play them right,” Mr. Ould-Abdallah stated.

This, he said, will allow the international community to overcome two main challenges, beginning with the “absence of a concrete commitment and a determined international policy towards Somalia and its present leadership. “Continued hesitation and the absence of effective action have encouraged the extremists and, at the same time, weakened the Government,” he noted.

Secondly, he said that despite a massive consensus of support for the Transitional Federal Government from the international community, that backing has yet to be translated into the necessary material assistance.

Somalia is considered the typical case of a “failed State,” a top UN envoy told reporters. “We believe that with the situation we have now, we have moved from a failed Stated to a fragile State – a State which needs to be nurtured, supported to be able to carry out its responsibility at home and abroad, including in the region.”

Mr. Ould-Abdallah said, that the county’s Transitional Federal Government had made significant progress, despite repeated armed assaults by externally funded extremists attempting to overthrow it. Citing the Government’s accomplishments, he said they included establishing its authority in Mogadishu, the capital; drawing up a budget; recruiting and training security forces; and keeping its political legitimacy over violent and extremist groups.

The Council should send a strong and clear signal to the extremists by strengthening the Government in a practical manner, he said, calling on the international community to provide more vigorous moral, diplomatic and financial assistance.  “Assistance delayed is assistance denied.”

It had become imperative to work more closely with IGAD, the African Union, the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, he continued.  The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) deserved, as an emergency matter, support through troop allowances increased to the international level, the timely disbursement of those allowances, and payment for lethal equipment.

The Council should also vigorously address the role of the spoilers, he said.  A clear and effective message, backed by concrete action, would demonstrate that those who funded the extremists -– “creating misery for innocent civilians, violating international law, including through recruitment of child soldiers and threatening peace and stability of the region” -– would no longer enjoy impunity.  “The protection of civilians is an obligation long ignored in Somalia,” he noted.

He said those recommendations would be implemented more effectively once the United Nations family working on Somalia operated in an integrated and harmonized manner.  There was a need to accelerate the move by the Organization and the international community to Mogadishu.

“To help the Somalis, especially the victims, we have to be with them,” he stressed.  Failure to intervene actively to restore stability was already threatening the effectiveness of the international community, in addition to costing vast amounts of resources.  Failure to act decisively could only lead to a dramatic increase in that cost.

For more information, please see:

UN News Service- Government Needs More Coordinated, Effective Support – UN Envoy – 15 January 2010

All Africa- Secretary General’s Special Representative, Briefing Security Council, Calls Somalia ‘Global Crisis’ That Can No Longer Be Ignored – 15 January 2010

The Star Online- Somalia is Moving From Failed to Fragile State – 15 January 2010

Relief Web- Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Breifing Security Council, Calls Somalia ‘Global Crisis’ That Can No Longer Be Ignored – 14 January 2010

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – The leader of the only rebel group still fighting in Central African Republic (CAR) has been captured.

Charles Massi formerly served under Centrafrican President Ange-Felix Patasse as Minister of Mines, according to current president Francois Bozize. Massi is now the leader of the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP).

According to his wife, Denise Massi, he had been captured and beaten by soldiers of the presidential guard.  He was captured in the border area of Chad, Cameroon, and CAR, although she did not specify which country.

“He was beaten up and he’s in a lamentable…condition,” she said.

Massi is being detained at a prison in the capital Bangui after being turned over to Central African authorities.  He was arrested between January 1 and 2, said a military source.

“Charles Massi is not dead like some people are saying,” said the military source.  “When he was transferred across the border between Chad and Central Africa, one person with him was shot for refusing to comply with the instructions of those transferring him to Bangui.”

He was previously arrested in southern Chad in May 2009.  He was charged with “fraudulent entry and attempted destabilization of a neighboring country” and imprisoned, according to Chad’s Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir.  He was released in July.

Massi’s arrest came just days after CPJP rebels and the Centrafrican army clashed in CAR near the Chadian border.  CPJP rebels had several clashes with government forces in 2009 in the Ndele region.

The army ordered the operation after learning of a fresh assault on the Ndele region was being prepared by the CPJP.

A CPJP statement has accused Bangui of ignoring an offer of negotiations and “mistakenly pursuing a logic of war.”

“The launch of hostilities against us will only needlessly weaken the country,” it said.

The fighting has led to the creation of a refugee camp in Daha, on Chad’s side of the border, because of the number of displaced people.

For more information, please see:

AFP – C.Africa Imprisons Rebel Leader – 10 January 2010

AFP – C.Africa Rebel Chief Captured:Wife – 09 January 2010

News 24 – CAR Rebel Chief Captured – 09 January 2010

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
MOGADISHU, Somalia – According to the top US military official, al Shabaab rebel group’s disruptions of the UN World Food Program’s (WFP) operations could worsen Somalia’s humanitarian crisis.

“(The situation) is a great concern because over an extended period of time, the potential for a humanitarian crisis is pretty significant,” said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  He also called the al Shabaab a “growing terrorist organization.”

Al Shabaab militants threatened the WFP, causing it to suspend operations in much of southern Somalia.  According to WFP Spokeswoman Emilia Casella, the rebels demanded that the agency remove all women and pay protection money to guarantee the safety of its staff.  Nevertheless, the agency has said that the lines of communication are open and that it has no intention of leaving Somalia.

“We have not closed any doors.  We have not closed any lines of communication,” said Casella.  “What we are hoping is that a resolution can be found so that we can have assurances that humanitarian principles will be respected and that the safety of our staff willbe respected and guaranteed so that we can return to working in the southern part of Somalia as we are continuing to work in the rest of Somalia.”

Nearly three quarters of the country’s 3.76 million who are in need of aid are concentrated in central and southern Somalia.  The WFP has emphasized that the suspension is only temporary and that aid to the rest of the country is still in operation.

“We do anticipate that it is possible there will be movement or could be movement to other parts of Somalia by some people who have been affected or towards the borders,” said Casella.  “And, so for that reason, the staff and the supplies and equipment that were in our six offices in the southern part of Somalia have already been moved from that area to areas of Somalia where we are continuing to work.”

WFP is anticipating demand increasing in certain areas and is working with its partner organizations to pre-position supplies in those areas.

Despite WFP’s suspension of operations, several UN agencies remain in operation in southern Somalia, although they are facing difficulty, said Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Byrs did say that there has been a steady decline of humanitarian staff following incidents of looting, extortion, assaults, and kidnappings of aid workers.

“Discussions are also under way to determine whether and how other programs, such as nutrition, could be adjusted to mitigate any potential negative effects in the area under suspension,” she said.

Over the past year, the number of people in need of aid has risen over half a million bringing the total number of people in need to well over half of the population.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – UN Food Aid Trouble in Somalia ‘a Great Concern’: US – 09 January 2010

UN News Centre – UN Aid Agencies Will Not Abandon Somalia Despite Insecurity, says Official – 08 January 2010

VOA – WFP Sees No Quick Solution to Somalia Crisis – 08 January 2010