Mozambique: AU envoy Francisco Madeira expelled from Somalia – foreign minister perplexed

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Mozambique: AU envoy Francisco Madeira expelled from Somalia – foreign minister perplexed

7:37 CAT | 19 Apr 2022

File photo: DW

Mozambique’s foreign minister, Verónica Macamo, has said she did not understand the decision of the Somali government to expel the special representative of the African Union (AU) in the country, Mozambican Ambassador Francisco Madeira.

“We do not understand what happened, but we are consoled because the president of the country has reassured us in a way, annulling the previous decision″, she said in statements released on Saturday by the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM).

This was the first reaction of a Mozambican leader to another controversy with representatives of the AU and the United Nations (UN) in Somalia, this time with a Mozambican diplomat.

″Ambassador Madeira is a career ambassador who, because of his knowledge, capacity and experience, was appointed by the AU to represent the organisation within the [mission of] unity and pacification. This is the role he is performing,” she stressed.

The reaction comes after AU President Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed concern on 8 April over the decision by Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to consider the organisation’s special representative in the country “persona non grata”.

The AU leader welcomed, however, the position of Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who opposed that of the prime minister.

The Somali head of state regretted the decision of the government of Mogadishu and reiterated his commitment to continue cooperating with the AU Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

In November, the Somali government expelled the AU’s deputy special representative, Simon Mulongo. In January 2019, the UN special envoy, Nicholas Haysom, was expelled for alleged “violation of protocols” and “interference in Somalia’s internal affairs.

The country has an AU military contingent fighting the Islamist group al-Shabab, which is waging war against the Somali state and controls part of the country’s territory.

Source: Lusa