NEW YORK (Halbeeg News) – Somalia’s U.N. envoy on Thursday defended his government’s decision to expel United Nations (UN) envoy from the country over “violating protocols” and “deliberately interfering” in the internal affairs of the Horn of Africa country.
Somali ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman who did not specifically mention his government’s decision to order Nicholas Haysom to leave insisted the country’s independence saying his country has the right administer itself.
“Somali people want Somalia to have its rightful place in the community of nations and with the aspect, mutual reciprocity, people demand their government assume responsibility for its own decision and shape their future, Somalia leading international support, not international support lead Somalia,” Osman said.
Somali envoy urged the United Nations not to interfere in his country’s internal affairs and respect the sovereignty of the nation.
“Our appeal to the Security Council, that the U.N. and its representatives have a duty — even an obligation — to respect their mandate and not interfere in our internal affairs and let the Somalis control their own destiny,” Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman told a meeting of the council.
Osman rejected what he said was an attempt to “rebrand” a terrorist as an “ice cream salesperson.”
“The member states here will agree, the proscribed individuals from Shabab or other terrorist organizations sanctioned by this very institution cannot assume leadership positions without going through a stringent, established rehabilitation program,” Osman said.
For his part, Nicholas Haysom, UN envoy to Somalia did not comment on the government’s order to expel him but he renewed his criticism against the government saying 15 people were killed in electoral violence.
Addressing the council, Haysom warned of a risk of conflict during elections in Somalia’s federal states due to tensions with the central authorities.
“We witnessed this during the electoral process in South West State,” he said.
“Allegations of interference by the FGS (federal government of Somalia) and the violence which erupted following the arrest of one of the candidates, a former Al-Shabaab deputy leader, marred the process and does not bode well for upcoming electoral processes in other regions or for the 2020 national elections,” he added.
He expressed concerns that this could deter other potential Al-Shabaab defectors from moving away from violence and toward politics to resolve their grievances.
The council then met behind doors to discuss the fate of the UN envoy. There was no official statement released after those talks.
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