Somalia asks envoy of African Union Commission to leave country

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somalia on Thursday asked the African Union Commission (AUC) representative in the country to leave within a week after declaring him persona non grata.

Simon Mulongo, the AUC's deputy special representative in Mogadishu, is no longer welcome in the Horn of African country due to his alleged activities that are not under the country's laws, the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

He has seven days to leave Somalia, it added, without giving any further reasons for why the official is ordered to leave the country.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia presents its compliments to the African Union Commission and has the honor to inform the commission that the individual listed below (Simon Mulongo) is designated ‘persona non grata’ and ordered to leave Somalia within seven days for engaging in activities (that are) incompatible with AMISOM’s (African Union Mission in Somalia) mandate and Somalia’s security strategy,” the ministry statement said.

According to the African Union, AMISOM forces first arrived in Somalia in March 2007. Since then, the AMISOM military component has aided the Somali National Security Forces in driving out the al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group Al-Shabaab from most of the major cities and towns of southern Somalia.

It has created a relatively secure environment that has allowed the Somali peace process to take root, allowed the local population the opportunity to begin establishing accountable local governance institutions that can begin to deliver services as well as rebuild the local economy and create linkages to the national economy and government, it added.