{"id":838431,"date":"2026-10-29T16:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838431"},"modified":"2026-10-29T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T19:49:18","slug":"un-political-mission-leaves-somalia-on-saturday-after-31-years-with-election-dispute-still-unresolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838431","title":{"rendered":"UN political mission leaves Somalia on Saturday after 31 years, with election dispute still unresolved"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama and UNTMIS officer in charge Raisedon Zenenga at a ceremony in Mogadishu marking the end of the UN political mission, in a photo shared on X on October 26, 2026. Photo: Gedo 24 via X<\/em><\/p>\n

The United Nations political mission in Somalia closes on Saturday after more than three decades, leaving no agreed outside mediator as the Gov't and opposition fight over the election timetable in court.<\/p>\n

The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia, known as UNTMIS, will cease operations on October 31 at the request of the Federal Government, completing a two year transition under Security Council resolutions 2753 of 2024 and 2809 of 2025. In a statement on Monday, the spokesman for UN chief Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said the closure "brings to a close more than three decades of United Nations missions in support of peacebuilding, State-building, governance and reconciliation in Somalia," and that the mission's tasks have been handed to Somali institutions and to UN agencies, funds and programmes that will stay in the country.<\/p>\n

Guterres also said that "significant political, security, humanitarian and development challenges" remain, and called for continued international support to "advance inclusive political dialogue and reconciliation." The Associated Press reported on Thursday that UN aid agencies and African Union forces will remain, but that no direct replacement has been identified for the mission’s political mediation role while leaders remain divided over elections.<\/p>\n

The Gov't sees the departure as a sign of progress. At a farewell ceremony in Mogadishu this week, Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama called it a historic milestone, according to Kaab TV, which quoted him as saying that the end of UNTMIS reflected progress towards constitutional governance and federalism. The Council of Ministers welcomed the closure in a statement and said the country had moved beyond the challenges of the past, the Somali news account @Wardoonnews reported. Photos from the ceremony shared by Gedo 24 showed Jama alongside the mission’s officer in charge, Raisedon Zenenga, cutting a cake with diplomats, and T\u00fcrkiye's Ambassador Ferhat Alkan was among those who attended, his embassy said on X.<\/p>\n

Critics see it differently. The Somali political commentator Mohamud Uluso (@MohamudUluso) called it "a premature exit that risks undermining Somalia's fragile state-building gains." In a second post he wrote that the Federal Government's request to end the mission "raises serious questions about its political motivations," and that the "invocation of national ownership appears to have become a convenient pretext for escaping international scrutiny."<\/p>\n

The timing is difficult. Former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed filed a petition with the Supreme Court on October 11 challenging the recent amendments to the Provisional Constitution and the 2027 election timetable announced by the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, The EastAfrican reported, citing Xinhua. The challenge is backed by the federal member states of Puntland and Jubaland, and the Office of the Solicitor General has filed a formal objection to it. Former President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has separately rejected the timetable and called the electoral commission "one-sided," warning that going ahead without broad consensus could lead to new conflict.<\/p>\n

Not everyone thinks the absence of outside mediators is a bad thing. Farhan Issak Yusuf, deputy head of the Mogadishu think tank Somali Public Agenda, told Xinhua that resolving disputes through national institutions was "a welcome development." "Not so long ago, disputes of this nature were often settled through other means, with solutions frequently emerging from outside Somalia," he said. The legal expert Yahye Mohamed, however, questioned whether the opposition coalition has standing to bring the case and whether the Supreme Court is the right forum, noting that Somalia has no constitutional court.<\/p>\n

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has invited opposition leaders to national consultations on federal elections from November 14 to 18, according to Villa Somalia, but the opposition is divided over whether to attend. The security picture is also changing. Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ali Barise took over on Thursday as Chief of Staff of the Somali National Army, Dawan Africa reported. On Thursday, Uganda’s army chief, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, wrote on X that Uganda has "started withdrawing UPDF from Somalia," adding: "After 20 years of a lot of blood and sacrifice we are handing over security to our Somali brothers." Uganda has been one of the largest troop contributors to the African Union mission.<\/p>\n

Online, the reaction among Somalis was mixed. "Somalia will take over this mission. This progress shows that our country has reached a level of stability," wrote @Abdiqadir002 on Thursday, asking his followers whether they agreed. The East African news account @Angayakisasa noted that the mission is ending "after more than 30 years," and other accounts shared photos from the farewell ceremony.<\/p>\n

Somalia last held direct, one person one vote elections in March 1969, a few months before the military coup that brought Siad Barre to power. The most recent national elections, in 2016 and 2017 and in May 2022, were held through an indirect system in which clan delegates chose lawmakers, who then elected the president, The EastAfrican noted.<\/p>\n

"The United Nations will continue to support Somalia through its resident agencies, funds and programmes," Guterres' spokesman said on Monday. Mereja has asked the UN spokesman’s office for comment.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n