UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recent announcement that the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) will relocate from Nairobi to Mogadishu has generated fears that the office – established in 1995 to advance the cause of peace and reconciliation in Somalia – will not be effective in bringing about stability in the country.

Last month, more than 200 members of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Parliament urged the UN Secretary-General to remove the current head of UNPOS, Augustine Mahiga, who they accuse of lacking “capacity and vision beyond the transitional period”.

He says that though the UN says it consulted relevant stakeholders when it produced the UN Transition Plan for Somalia, the plan is largely the product of bureaucrats based in Nairobi.

Turkey, for instance, is playing a significant role in reconstructing Mogadishu by re-building schools, hospitals and government offices.

The decision by Turkey to play a bigger role in Somalia’s recovery is no doubt related to the country’s geopolitical interests in Africa and the Middle East, but it is also a response to the failure of the international community to bring about peace and development in Somalia in the last two decades.

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Rasna Warah

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