Somalia expels AU's deputy envoy for overstepping his mandate

Mulongo becomes the second seniormost foreign official to be declared unwelcome in Somalia [File photo]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The federal government of Somalia has ordered a top African Union diplomat to leave the country on Thursday amid a dispute over AMISOM exit strategy.

In a statement that was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country ordered Simon Mulongo, the Deputy Special Representative of AU to leave the country within seven days, declaring him a persona non grata.

Mr. Abdirizak Mohamed, the Foreign Affairs Minister, notified the Africa Union Commission on November 4 that Mulongo was no longer welcome in Somalia for ‘engaging in activities incompatible with AMISOM mandate and Somali security strategy’.

His message was followed by information that Somalia would hold accountable senior AMISOM leadership. The FGS will hold accountable AMISOM personnel, particularly those at the leadership level, who are expected to be beyond reproach in their integrity as they discharge their duty under the UN/AU mandate.”

The Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister had hinted at a move against the AMISOM senior official on Wednesday in a tweet. “Somalia will realize the implementation of the STP [Somali Transition Plan], everyone will be held accountable for their action, no one will be allowed to hinder the Somali nation, we have simply come too far,”

The expulsion of Mulongo who has been serving as AMISOM deputy since August 2017 comes in the wake of a tiff between Somalia and AMISOM on a post AMISOM plan. The African Union endorsed last month a proposal to deploy a hybrid AU-UN Stabilisation Mission in Somalia after the end of 2022.

Somalia however rejected the proposal but did not provide an alternative publicly. However, senior administration officials said the new model would jeopardize the implementation of the Somalia Transition Plan, which envisages the take over of responsibilities by Somali Security Forces from AMISOM.

Mr. Mulongo becomes the second seniormost foreign official to be declared unwelcome in Somalia. In January 2018, Somalia kicked out South African UN head in Somalia Nicholas Haysom who had just served for three months.

Mulongo, 62, was an MP in Uganda between 2011 and 2016 before being tapped to join AMISOM where he has been deputizing Mozambican Francisco Madeira.

The Republic of Uganda has been one of the most cooperative international partners in the fight against Al-Shabaab militants, who have been vocal in the fight against Al-Shabaab militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

For years, Al-Shabaab has been controlling large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia, superseding the capability of the African Union Mission Forces, but the forces have tried to neutralize the forces for a couple of months.

GAROWE ONLINE