MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Former Ghanaian President John Mahama has withdrawal quit his role as African Union’s High Representative to Somalia barely ten days after Somalia rejected his appointment.
Mid this month, Somalia rejected the appointment and planned deployment of AU High Representative John Mahama to lead the mediation talks noting it did not have confidence in the former Ghanaian president owing to his ties to Kenya.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Abdirizak told the African Union Commission chairman Moussa Mahamat that Mahama was not welcome in Somalia and that his arrival would not add value since there was already a negotiated settlement.
“It is indeed surprising that a candidate with an extensive link with Kenya’s leadership has been chosen by the AU to facilitate talks on a political impasse partly engineered by those the Kenyan leadership has supported,” the letter read in part.
U Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, Mr Mahama indicated he will no longer be taking up the job, citing trust issues raised by the President of Somalia, Mohamed Farmaajo.
A statement posted on his website said the former Ghanaian leader feels “the high political importance of the proposed assignment requires that the High Representative enjoy the unalloyed support and cooperation of all political stakeholders.”
An aide said Mahama, who was the Ghanaian President between 2012 and 2017, had readily accepted the nomination to help mediate the political impasse in Somalia, but now feels it is no longer tenable as Somalia has questioned his alliance with Kenya, with which Mogadishu has a diplomatic tiff.
“Mr Mahama, whose appointment as the AU envoy has been roundly welcomed by the Council of Presidential Candidates of Somalia, and the Coalition of Somalia’s Federal Member States, further cautioned in his letter to the AU Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, that the lack of support by the Federal Government could jeopardise the whole process and undermine the hopes that the entire world has in bringing peace to the esteemed land of Somalia,” Mahama’s Special Aide, Joyce Bawah Mogtari said in a statement on Thursday.
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