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International-UN-NGOs
Six Countries Block UN Sanctions against Somalia's Al-Shabaab
2019-09-01
[AnNahar] Six UN Security Council members on Wednesday blocked a move to include Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
on a list of organizations such as al-Qaeda that are under international sanctions, diplomatic sources said.

Several NGOs and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently stepped in to oppose the classification, which would have effectively kept humanitarian aid away from millions of Somalis living in al-Shabaab-controlled areas.

Germany, Belgium, Poland, La Belle France, Kuwait and the United States were the six countries whose votes blocked the implementation of the new sanctions.
WTF??
Kenya, on the other hand, has pushed for tightening sanctions against al-Shabaab since late last year, and especially since an attack by the group at a Nairobi hotel in January left 21 people dead.

The country had wanted an amendment to UN Resolution 1267, which sanctions al-Qaeda, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group and their affiliates.

A large portion of the population in Somalia relies on international aid after three decades of conflict and economic ruin.

Critics of the defeated sanctions have said including al-Shabaab in the Resolution 1267 designations would have effectively criminalized UN and other assistance to people in Somalia who depend on it.

And Somalia recently told the Security Council that taking actions that could interrupt aid would "play into the Shabaab's narrative and self-image as a de-facto government in areas where state reach is limited."
Posted by:trailing wife

#1  The need for this arose from the nature of the arrangement humanitarian aid groups have with Al-Shabab. Somalia is already listed as a sanctioned regime - arms embargo, travel ban, assets freeze.

But there is a humanitarian exemption like for the arms embargo, which allows humanitarians in Somalia and their mercs to use protective gear, an 'overheads exemption' that allows them to pay off al-Shabab goons to let them treat and feed the needy and the sick. This exemption was allowed for by the US. The diversions of aid, sale of supplies and 'taxes' levied by the shaboobs are what enables the NGOs to take the aid to the last Godforsaken mile in Somalia.

It is believed that including Al-shabab in the resolution 1267 sanctions will not affect the terrorists much, as their funding is guaranteed by domestic sources and offshore financiers through phone and internet banking. But it will sanction anybody dealing with them, even if it's an NGO that pays them jiziya 'protection money' to stay and work with natives, freezing their assets and disallowing banks and philanthropists from aiding them.

It's a resolution hold though, not a block and they may re-assess the situation differently later.
Posted by: Dron66046   2019-09-01 13:04  

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