 |
|
March 12, 2010
Media Statement
Regarding Expected United Nations Somalia
Sanctions Committee Report
The
New
York Times carried a front-page story
on March 9 saying that a report is forthcoming from the UN
Somalia Sanctions Committee alleging large-scale diversion of
the UN World Food Program (WFP) humanitarian aid effort. An
advance copy of the report was leaked to the
Times
by unknown parties perhaps seeking to
build external support for the report prior to its official
adoption by the UN Security Council. According to the
Times,
the Sanctions Committee report contains accusations that DEEQA,
as a principal food-delivery contractor in the Somalia WFP,
participated in the alleged diversion of aid.
If such allegations directed toward DEEQA
were ultimately to be published by the UN, we would respond
immediately to the Sanctions Committee and to interested media.
Were the contents of any report to reflect the characterization
of DEEQA’s activities as presented in the
Times,
we would of course respond that they were baseless and possibly
fabricated. For now, we wish to inform the several news outlets
which have sent inquiries to our company that, for the past
three months, we have been in active dialogue with the Sanctions
Committee investigators, known as the Somalia Monitoring Group
(SMG), as well as with assigned UN legal staff, regarding their
interest in DEEQA.
Being aware that the relief effort in which
we were a significant participant was under scrutiny, and having
had firsthand experience with past iterations of the SMG that
had, unfortunately, allowed flagrantly false and damaging
hearsay to obtain the UN imprimatur in their reports, we
voluntarily undertook to engage the investigators to ensure
accuracy and fairness with respect to their examination of DEEQA.
Our attentiveness to the process was intensified by the fact
that leaks of official reports, much like the one to the
Times,
had been occurring in a manner that appeared to be designed to
drive external opinion to accept a negative conclusion of the
investigation as foregone.
The process of engagement with the SMG was
difficult and trying, even with the assistance of the
international legal counsel we retained in Washington, DC as an
extra measure of caution. Though the SMG’s pursuits are not
officially intended to be guided by conventional rules of due
process, our experience showed the investigation to be, at least
insofar as the engagement of our company was concerned,
extremely opaque, unpredictable, and far from thorough.
Investigators sometimes did not understand basic operations of
the WFP.
Despite our immediate, voluntary response to
the SMG, it took nearly six weeks for us to extract any precise
statement of the allegations the investigators had developed
about DEEQA from third-party sources. Ironically, we were
informed that we were receiving "more formal treatment" because
we had brought lawyers into the equation. We learned that most
information that the SMG uses is apparently derived from second-
and third-hand statements from
individuals living in a war-torn, chaotic
environment, or at a remove in the cafés or on the streets of
Nairobi, rendering it virtually impossible to test for
reliability. We were surprised to learn that the SMG’s formal
protocols and procedures permit—indeed, embrace—reliance on such
hearsay information.
Nonetheless, we persevered and through
exhaustive effort were able to comprehensively refute every
allegation that the Monitoring Group placed before us. We did so
through official documentation, written rebuttals, and oral
arguments presented with the assistance of our U.S. attorneys.
Now, with the release of the
Times
story, we fear that our labors may
have been in vain. Indeed, the article leaves us deeply worried
that this process may have gone seriously awry, perhaps for
reasons that neither concern us directly nor are within our
ability to fully grasp.
We are aware of the WFP’s negative reaction
to both the reported contents of the SMG investigation and the
unauthorized manner in which they were publicized. We have also
learned that other officials, both within the UN and among a
number of member governments, have expressed doubts about the
integrity of this process. In that vein, DEEQA welcomes
enthusiastically any independent UN or other third-party
investigation of the Somalia WFP and will fully cooperate with
the expectation of definitively eliminating any concerns about
DEEQA. But for now, we feel compelled to bide our time and to
ask interested press to do the same while we clarify the
situation with respect to the anticipated Somalia Sanctions
Committee report.
Signed,
Abdulkadir Nur
CEO
About DEEQA
Founded in 1978, DEEQA is among the few
companies that have operated in Somalia throughout the period of
the civil war. We specialize in construction of roads, ports,
airstrips, hospitals, irrigation systems and public buildings,
as well as water-well drilling. Our work force, which fluctuates
with projects, has reached as high as 10,000 people. DEEQA is
the oldest and most reliable partner supporting a range of
international aid organizations in Somalia. Food transport,
including for the WFP, ADRA, ICRC, CARE and UNICEF has been a
principal activity of DEEQA for the past twenty years.
Media contact: Mark D’Anastasio
Emerging Markets Communications, LLC
Washington, DC
202 331-7751
info@emcommunicate.com
Contact:editorial@calayaale.com
Webmaster@calayaale.com
If you have a minute, please
sign my Dreambook too!
Muqdisho somaliya
|
|
