UN Chief Visits Somalia for First Time Since 1993
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Somalia Friday in the first visit from the head of the global body to the country since 1993.
“We are honored today to visit Somalia and we are here to show the people of Somalia our solidarity and how the U.N. could help the people of Somalia to a better future,” Ban told reporters at a news conference at Mogadishu’s presidential palace.
The visit by the top U.N. official came unannounced and lasted only a few hours.
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At the surprise visit, Ban announced that the U.N. would be reopening its U.N. Political Office for Somalia in Mogadishu early next year and encouraged the people of Somalia to follow a political roadmap that proposes to lead the country into elections next year.
The conflict-ridden country has faced years of transitional governments that have failed to maintain peace and stability within the country and the U.N. has stationed a majority of officials from its political office in neighboring Kenya due to security concerns.
“I believe we are at a critical juncture, a moment of fresh opportunities for the future of Somalia people … to bring a new measure of stability and possibilities to people’s lives,” the U.N. secretary general said.
“We have a very limited window of opportunity,” he added.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are slated to occur next year and if properly executed could potentially aid in ending the long-running political instability in the country.
Although Somalia has boasted of relative peace in its capital since African Union forces came into the country and pushed al-Shabab out of Mogadishu, some analysts remain skeptical about Somalia’s future.
Even with African Union forces, Mogadishu remains one of the most dangerous cities in the world as suicide bombs continue to pummel the city and the militant al-Shabab continues to maintain a tight grip on large swaths of the country.
The last U.N. Secretary General to visit the conflict-ridden East African nation was Egyptian-born Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Boutros-Ghali’s 1993 visit set off protests across the country.
Somalia was plunged into decades of conflict and instability following the ousting of President Ali Mahdi Muhammad in 1991.
After Muhammad was ousted, warlords turned against each other and have kept the country in a continual state of chaos and anarchy in the decades following the ousting.
The U.S. intervened in the country in 1993, which led to the infamous Black Hawk Down incident. Black Hawk Down transformed the domestic political support for humanitarian missions and impacted the role of U.S. in humanitarian catastrophes such as Rwanda and Bosnia.
