(Medeshi) 9 Aug, 2008A diplomatic row between America and Somalia has spilled out of the United Nations building, and New York property owners are getting caught in the crossfire.
The Somali government is refusing to pay for bills or repairs at several properties it has used in the metropolitan area. Its attitude appears to stem, at least in part, from a decades-old dispute with America concerning the sale of a home in Washington. While the two countries quietly fight it out, lenders and neighbors in New York are stuck in a legal limbo: Somali officials have diplomatic immunity, and the State Department is of little help because it has broken off relations with them.
Somalia is hardly the only nation to hide behind its immunity after racking up debt in America. But its behavior poses a particular challenge because American diplomats refuse to engage directly with its government.
"Although they are supposed to adhere to all the obligations that they take on financially here, there's not a lot that anyone can do if they pick up and leave," said Celeste Ingalls of Crowe Foreign Services, a firm that provides international legal support to attorneys. "You have to go through hell to get anything back, and our government doesn't really do much of anything about it."
Ms. Ingalls recently worked on a lawsuit through which the operators of two Midtown condominiums are trying to recoup about $54,000 from Somalia. The suit was filed in February, but proceedings are on hold while the State Department figures out how to serve Somalia with court papers, Ms. Ingalls said.
The Somali mission to the United Nations declined to comment, as did a lawyer for the condominium owners.
In addition, officials in New Rochelle are upset about a Somali-owned house that has been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. Neighbors and politicians claim that the house now poses a hazard to the community. A Somali U.N. diplomat, Idd Mohamed, told the New York Times last month that his country is refusing to pay for repairs until America returns money it seized from the sale of an ambassador's home in the early 1990s.
A spokesman for the American mission to the United Nations, Richard Grenell, said the State Department has pressured Somalia to meet its obligations in this country.
"The so-called government of Somalia has a lot of problems, political problems as well as financial problems, in the United States," he said. "Even though we don't recognize their government, we have urged them to deal with their properties, sell them if they can't afford them, or in some cases fix them up."
With a per capita GDP of about $600 a year, Somalia does not have much cash to spare on home improvements in New York. But a U.N. diplomat, who asked not to be identified, suggested that an element of strategy may also be at play.
"There must be someone in the Somali government saying, 'Don't sell these properties yet, because we are trying to get ourselves back together as a government, and when we do we will need these properties,'" the diplomat said.
He noted that America has engaged in internal discussions about whether to reopen diplomatic channels with Somalia, and that the country's properties here have been a factor in that debate.
