UN fires senior Somalia mission official for ‘fraud’

by Jeff Mwaura, jeff@alleastafrica.com

NAIROBI – The United Nations’ Somalia Mission has fired one of the organization’s longest-serving officials over allegations ranging from black market transactions to fraud, sources told Alleastafrica.

Amadu Kamara, the director of Mission Support, UNSOM and Director of UNSOA, an office that provides support to African Union troops in Somalia (UNSOA) which also provides support to the office of the Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes (SESG) and to the Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) was fired on Tuesday after he was accused of giving contracts to individuals with the aim of sharing profits.

Mr. Kamara was also accused of misusing funds meant for Somali National Army (SNA) by donor countries help rebuild the horn of Africa nation which is recovering from decades of war.

Joined the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as a Procurement Officer in October of 1993, Mr. Kamara, a Sierra Leonean national was deployed in Mogadishu in April 2012 during which he went to South Sudan before returned to his Mogadishu post later.

However, Somali officials complained that Mr. Kamara’s removal would not help its army in receiving funds donated by donors.

“His dismissal will not change anything.” a senior Somali military general told Alleastafrica by phone, accusing the current chief Mission Support Centre of UNSON Graig Goodwin of also maintaining Kamara’s status quo of cutting funds meant for SNA.

In a ministerial meeting in September last year, the Security Council Adopted Resolution 2245 and approved changes to the United Nations mission in Somalia, consolidating efforts around the strategic objectives established for the country to better respond to a dramatic expansion of requested support.

In 2015, Security Council Consolidated United Nations Mission in Somalia to better respond to dramatic spike in support requests by Somali army, appointing Robert Kirkwood as the Head of Somalia Support.

Robert Kirkwood, The Head of UN’s Somalia Support Unit
Robert Kirkwood, The Head of UN’s Somalia Support Unit
With over 30 years of experience in logistics support – 21 of them in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations including Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo Sierra Leone, Chad to name a few, Mr. Kirkwood has also served in UNHQ heading planning teams for mission start up and expansion as well as at the UN Logistics base in Brindisi.

He is responsible for all aspects of support in Somalia and does so through staff in Somalia, Mombasa and Nairobi.

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