Thursday, November 12, 2009

newainsideMOGADISHU, (Xinhua) -- Deputy UN special envoy to Somalia Charles Petrie yesterday during a previously unannounced brief visit to the Somali capital Mogadishu said the UN Somalia office currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, will be relocated to the Somali capital.

The UN envoy held meetings with Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdurashid Ali Sharmarkeh and the two officials discussed various issues including the relocating and reopening of the UN Somalia office in Mogadishu, Abdelkadir Walaayo, spokesman for the Somali government, said.

"The UN envoy promised that the office of the United Nations for Somalia will be moved from Nairobi to Mogadishu as soon as possible," Walaayo told reporters in Mogadishu.

Walaayo said the UN deputy envoy told Somali government officials that a senior UN official will be appointed for UN office in Mogadishu.

The UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) and other UN agencies that support the fragile Somali government have their offices and staff in neighboring Kenya because of the deteriorating security situation in Somalia.

The UNPOS headed by the Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah coordinates efforts by the UN to assist the fragile Somali government institutions and humanitarian assistance for thousands of displaced people in Somalia.

Rebels control much of south and center of the war-torn country while the Somali government is confined to few blocks in Mogadishu under the protection of the African Union peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Somalia has not had an effective central government since the ouster of Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.