Somalia expels AMISOM deputy, declares him unwanted

By T. Roble

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Somalia has ordered AMISOM Deputy Representative Simon Mulongo to leave the country in seven days and declared him unwanted.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Abdirizak notified the Africa Union Commission November 4 that Mulongo was no longer welcome in Somalia for ‘engaging in activities incompatible with AMISOM mandate and Somali security strategy’.

Abdirizak followed shortly with a tweet noting Somalia would hold accountable senior AMISOM leadership. The FGS will hold accountable AMISOM personel, particularly those at the leadership level, who are expected to be beyond reproach in their integrity as they discharge their duty under the UN/AU mandate.”

Abdirizak had hinted at a move against the AMISOM senior official on Wednesday in a tweet. “Somalia will realise the implementation of the STP (Somali Transition Plan), everyone will be held accountable for their action, no one will be allowed to hinder the Somali nation, we have simply come too far,”

The expulsion of Mulongo who has been serving as AMISOM deputy since August 2017 comes in the wake of a tiff between Somalia and AMISOM on a post AMISOM plan. The African Union endorsed last month a proposal to deploy a hybrid AU-UN Stabilisation Mission in Somalia after the end of 2022.

Somalia however rejected the proposal but did not provide an alternative publicly. However, senior administration officials said the new model would jeorpadise the implementation of the Somalia Transition Plan, which envisages the take over of responsibilities by Somali Security Forces from AMISOM.

Mulongo becomes the second seniormost foreign official to be declared unwelcome in Somalia. In January 2018, Somalia kicked out South African UN head in Somalia Nicholas Haysom who had just served for three months.

Mulongo, 62, was an MP in Uganda between 2011 and 2016 before being tapped to join AMISOM where he has been deputising Mozambican Francisco Madeira.