Somalia investigates detained WFP official for unspecified crime

The Associated Press is reporting that the top U.N. World Food Program official in Somalia, detained since Wednesday, is under criminal investigation.

The head of Somalia’s intelligence service — in a country which is reported to have barely a functioning government — says he is convinced that Osman committed a crime. But, AP said, National Security Service chief Gen. Mohamed Warsame Darwish “refused to elaborate on its nature”.
The AP reported that Gen. Darwish said: ” ‘We are certain that Idris Osman committed a crime … ‘We will not release him until we finalize our investigations’.” Gen. Darwish also told AP that “no date had been set for Osman’s arraignment”.

The AP added that “Dozens of armed security agents stormed a U.N. compound in Mogadishu on Wednesday, seizing Idris Osman, according to the World Food Program, which immediately suspended food distribution aimed at helping about 76,000 people”.

The AP also stated, in its report, that “Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew a dictatorship and then turned on each other”. The AP report that the UN official detained in Somalia is under criminal investigation is reported here.

So, we are being told that Somalia has a functioning intelligence service, and functioning security services — but little else?

UNSG BAN demands release of WFP official seized in Somalia

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the forceful and illegal entry of Government security forces into the United Nations compound in Mogadishu, and the detention of a United Nations official” — the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Somalia — a deputy UN spokesperson told journalists at UNHQ/NY on Wednesday.

She added that SG BAN “calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the staff member”, and “reminds the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia of its obligation to protect all United Nations staff members and property –today’s actions are in flagrant violation of the 1946 Convention on Privileges and Immunity to which the Somali government formally committed in the January 2006 agreement”.
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