Somalia's government has ordered the United Nations envoy to the country to leave, amid questions over the arrest of the Al-Shabab militant group's former deputy leader who had run for a regional presidency.
A Foreign Ministry statement late Tuesday accuses Nicholas Haysom of diplomatic overreach that violated the Horn of Africa nation's sovereignty, declaring him "persona non grata."
"The Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Haysom, is no longer welcome in Somalia and cannot operate in the country," the statement said.
Haysom had questioned the legal basis used in the arrest last month of Mukhtar Robow and whether U.N.-funded regional police in the Southwest were involved.
Ethiopian troops who are part of the African Union force in Somalia and Somali police arrested Robow days before the regional election. Deadly protests followed.
Robow was flown to Mogadishu and has been held in a prison run by Somalia's intelligence agency.
Neither the U.N. nor Haysom has commented.
Robow's arrest has been seen as a high-profile test of Somalia's treatment of defectors from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, Africa's most active extremist group. Somalia's government welcomed his defection but not his popular candidacy to lead Southwest state, which took some officials by surprise.
In confirming Robow's arrest, Somalia's Security Ministry cited the federal government's ban on his candidacy, which said he had not completed the defection process. The ministry also alleged that Robow had failed to renounce extremist ideology, and accused him of mobilizing armed forces.
A joint statement by the United States, more than a dozen countries, the AU mission and the United Nations expressed concern after the arrest and protests.
Haysom's letter to Somali authorities, seen by The Associated Press, questioned the legal framework of Somalia's defection process and asked how Somali authorities were able to detain Robow beyond the normal 48 hours.
The letter also questions the circumstances around civilian deaths in the protests and urges that they be "thoroughly and promptly investigated."
Agencies
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