U.N. Political Mission In Somalia Ends Without A Replacement Agreed

The United Nations' political mission in Somalia is due to close on Saturday.

Somalia's government asked for the closure in 2024, and the U.N. Security Council approved a two-year plan to transfer the mission's work to Somali institutions and other U.N. bodies. The departing United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission has advised Somali leaders and brokered resolutions to political disputes. The United States launched Operation Restore Hope in 1992 to protect famine relief deliveries, and 18 American soldiers died in the "Black Hawk Down" battle in Mogadishu the following year. After U.N. peacekeepers withdrew in March 1995 without reaching a lasting political settlement, the organization opened a civilian political office that helped Somali leaders end the country's formal transitional period in 2012, when a provisional constitution was adopted, a new federal parliament was formed and a president was elected.

Mohamed Husein Gaas, director of the Mogadishu-based RAAD Peace Research Institute, said the mission's departure would remove a key mediation channel. "Somalia could find itself confronting a political crisis without an agreed mechanism to contain it," he told the AP. In a September letter seen by the AP, the opposition Somali Future Council asked for an international mediation mechanism after the mission closes. Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama said at a farewell ceremony in Mogadishu on Monday that "the ceremony signifies that Somalia has moved beyond the transitional period and difficult circumstances." U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for sustained international support in a statement marking the closure.

The dispute centers on whether President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and parliament can legally remain in office. Under previous four-year terms, Mohamud's mandate was due to end May 15 and parliament's on April 14. Parliament approved constitutional changes extending both terms to five years, and the government says those changes allow the current president and lawmakers to stay in office until 2027. Opposition leaders reject applying the changes to sitting officeholders and say their mandates have expired. Opposition supporters and security forces clashed in Mogadishu in June ahead of a planned protest over alleged constitutional violations and efforts to extend Mohamud's tenure. Mission-backed talks in July ended without resolving the dispute.

African Union troops will continue backing Somali forces fighting al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militants, which controls large rural areas and carries out attacks in Mogadishu and other cities. U.N. aid agencies will remain in the country, and a separate U.N. office will continue providing supplies, transport and other support to African Union troops and some Somali security units.

Mohamud has invited political leaders to election talks Nov. 14-18, but the main opposition groups have yet to confirm attendance.