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Norway protests smear by UN oil report

The Foreign Ministry has sent a letter of complaint to the UN Security Council, after a report stated that Norwegian aid to Somalia could be coverage for oil exploration in the conflict-torn east African nation.

Published: 24 July 2013 10:09 CEST

Norway protests smear by UN oil report

The United Nations in New York. File photo: Jeffrey Zeldman/Flikr

The Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper reported on Wednesday that the security council's special report on Somalia and Eritrea singled out Norwegian aid to Somalia, additionally stating that western oil companies active in the country could worsen the conflict there.

The foreign ministry has now sent a letter addressing Norway's "serious concern" regarding comments made in the report.

The report said that Norway had encouraged Somalia to create a special economic zone off the coast, but that such a demarcation would hinge on resolving a maritime border conflict with neighbouring Kenya. The Norwegian news agency NTB noted on Wednesday, however, that state-owned oil company Statoil said recently that it was not interested in exploration and extraction in the region before the conflict was resolved.

"Let me assure you that these claims are totally baseless and quite simply inaccurate," Norwegian UN delegation head Knut Langeland wrote in the four-page letter addressed to Rosemary DiCarlo, the president of the security council.

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'The war must end now': UN Sec-Gen meets Swedish PM in Stockholm

After a bilateral meeting with Magdalena Andersson on the security situation in Europe, Guterres warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis that would hurt some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

“It is causing immense suffering, destruction and devastation of the country. But it also inflames a three-dimensional global crisis in food, energy and finance that is pummelling the most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” the Portuguese diplomat told a joint press conference with Andersson.

He stressed the need for “quick and decisive action to ensure a steady flow of food and energy,” including “lifting export restrictions, allocating surpluses and reserves to vulnerable populations and addressing food price increases to calm market volatility.”

Between the two, Russia and Ukraine produce around 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Guterres was in Stockholm to take part in the Stockholm 50+ conference, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

The conference, which was held on the suggestion of the Swedish government in 1972 was the first UN meeting to discuss human impacts on the global environment, and led to the establishment of the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

At the joint press conference, Andersson said that discussions continued between Sweden and Turkey over the country’s continuing opposition to Sweden’s application to join the Nato security alliance.

“We have held discussions with Turkey and I’m looking forward to continuing the constructive meetings with Turkey in the near future,” she said, while refusing to go into detail on Turkey’s demands.

“We are going to take the demands which have been made of Sweden directly with them, and the same goes for any misunderstandings which have arisen,” she said.

At the press conference, Guterres condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “a violation of its territorial integrity and a violation of the UN Charter”.

“The war must end now,” he said.

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