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.
Kay met with Somaliland President Ahmed Mahamed Mohamud Silaanyo and
senior officials of the Somaliland Administration as well as members of
civil society and health workers in the capital Hargeisa. PHOTO | AFP.
Africa Review
Monday, June 17, 2013
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).
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.