Somaliland opposed to a UN office in Hergeisa

Special representative of the United Nations secretary general (SRSG) Nicholas Kay walks in to greet a classroom of young female medical students at a teaching hospital in Hargeisa on his first visit to the self-declared republic of Somaliland since he assumed his duties as head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) on June 3.

Somaliland is opposed to plans of putting up of a United Nations office in Hargeisa.

The revelation followed a visit to the region by Nicholas Kay, Head of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

Dr Mohamed Abdullahi Omar, the Somaliland Foreign Minister, stated that the UNSOM office was only meant to offer assistance to the federal government of Somalia.

“We are independent from the rest of Somalia,” said Dr Omar in a press conference in Hargeisa. He clarified that UNSOM was not in the interest of Somaliland.

Somaliland is a region in Northwestern Somalia that declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, whose headquarter is Hargeisa, located 1500 km northwest of Mogadishu.

The UN Security Council unanimously voted to establish UNSOM in Mogadishu for an initial period of 12 months. The mission took office on June 3.

In Mogadishu, Mr Kay stated that UNSOM would set up office in several Somali cities including Garowe, Baidoa and Hargeisa (Somaliland).

UN flights

Before the Somaliland statement, the Secretary General’s Special Representative expressed optimism saying, “I came to listen and it's been a great opportunity and experience. I have heard from civil society, I have heard from the elected representatives of the Somaliland people. I shall be hearing from the Government very shortly. So, I am here listening and very clearly receiving the message".

Apparently, Mr Kay’s meeting with government officials in Hargeisa did not yield fruits.

According to the UN directives, the mandate of UNSOM is to support the building of national capacity, peace building with a focus on good governance, security sector reform, rule of law, human rights, providing "good offices" for mediation and political reconciliation and the coordination of international assistance.

In May, Somaliland banned all UN flights from its airports following an argument against the Mogadishu-based federal government of Somalia.

The Somaliland authority was angered by a move by Mogadishu to assume full control of Somalia's entire airspace, including that of Somaliland.

Accusing the world body of siding with the federal government of Somalia, a Somaliland ministerial order stated that effective May 15, no UN flights would be allowed to land at Somaliland airports.

Despite two decades of intensive lobbying, Somaliland is yet to be recognized as an independent country.

Source: Africa Review