The UN Security Council was on Thursday due to discuss Somalia days after the country announced it was expelling a UN envoy who raised questions about the arrest of an extremist group defector-turned-political candidate.
Thursday’s meeting was a regularly scheduled discussion of the Horn of Africa nation, where the UN and the African Union have a joint peacekeeping force. But the discussion was likely to get additional focus after Somalia ordered Nicholas Haysom to leave.
Haysom, who is expected to brief the council, questioned the legal basis of last month’s arrest of Mukhtar Robow.
He was a deputy leader of the Al Shabaab extremist group but defected in 2017.
When arrested, Robow was a leading candidate for a Somali regional presidency. The election was days later.
Somalia accused Haysom of diplomatic overreach.
Somalia accused Haysom of interfering with internal affairs.
Haysom “is not required and cannot work in this country”, the foreign affairs ministry said.
“He openly breached the appropriate conduct of the UN office in Somalia,” said the statement late on Tuesday, which effectively makes the South African persona non grata.
The United Nations is looking into the matter, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Wednesday.
“We’re trying to get the various details corroborated and we’re going to see, based on that, what further steps are needed,” Haq said.