UN accuses Kenya of frustrating probe on Kismayu charcoal saga
Traders selling charcoal in the post of Kismayu, Somalia on May 21, 2013. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- United Nations monitors claim Kenyan authorities locked out expert probing the alleged sale of charcoal in Kismayu, Somalia
A United Nations monitoring group has claimed that Kenyan authorities are “unwilling” to allow one of its experts to stay in Nairobi in ongoing investigations into alleged illegal sale of charcoal in Kismayu, Somalia.
In a report, the UN Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group has accused Kenyan authorities of obstructing its work regarding allegations that the Kenya Defence Forces are allowing Somali’s Al-Shabaab militants to export charcoal to international market through the port of Kismayu.
“The government of Kenya prevented one of the group’s experts from remaining at his duty station in Nairobi,” the monitors say.
According to the report, the relocation of the UN official — Babatunde Taiwo, an expert on armed groups — “significantly interfered with the group’s investigations, especially with regard to Al-Shabaab, at a critical juncture in Somalia.”
The report outlines a sequence of events that led to the relocation of the employee.
It says the events began in August 2013 in the form of a letter from Karanja Kibicho, the principal secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho. PHOTO | FILE
SECURITY THREAT
The letter, addressed to the director-general of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, alleged a security threat against Mr Taiwo.
The letter forced the UN to temporarily relocate him from his duty station in Nairobi on September 12, 2013.
A UN security assessment later cleared the return of Mr Taiwo to his post in Nairobi and the decision was communicated in a letter dated December 24, 2013 to Kenyan UN Ambassador Macharia Kamau.
“The Kenyan UN mission in New York responded six days later that the government was unwilling to let Mr Taiwo return to Kenya,” the Monitoring Group says.
Another letter sent to Ambassador Kamau on January 14, 2014, stressed the importance the UN placed on “the expert’s immediate return to Nairobi in order to fulfill his duties under the (Monitoring Group's) mandate and pursuant to the country’s obligations under international law to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations personnel working in Kenya.”
The Kenyan government has not responded to that letter sent 10 months ago, the report notes.
The report by UN estimates of charcoal worth at least $250 million (Sh22 billion) has been shipped from Somalia for the international market in 2013 and 2014.
