Fearing renewed bloodshed, UN monitors say such a ban on deals with the likes of Soma is needed until the nascent government has proper agreements set up to share oil income fairly around the country.
But the Earl wrote to Shapps: “We hope that Her Majesty’s Government will oppose any such idea and urge other governments to do the same.” He requests a meeting to “explain” the situation.
But Shapps apparently rebuffed the request, saying a DFID-funded report last year identified the Somalian oil industry’s “high risk as a potential driver of conflict in the absence of a revenue-sharing agreement between the Federal Government of Somalia and Somalia’s regions”.
Rejection: Grant Shapps (Picture: Glenn Copus)
Glenn Copus
Shapps adds: “While we continue to offer security briefings and political updates… we do not — and have not — lobbied on behalf of oil companies for contracts in the sector.”
Global Witness’s Barnaby Pace said: “The UK Government has taken the right decision not to back Soma Oil and Gas’s deal to immediately exploit Somalia’s oil, especially while the company is being investigated.”
Soma said it is “entitled to advise the FCO on its business activity in Somalia, especially when the FCO has encouraged British companies to invest there”.
