UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appointed a US diplomat, James Swan, as the new special envoy to Somalia to replace Nicholas Haysom, who was expelled from the country by the Somali government some six months ago.
The government had accused Mr Haysom of “shaming” the world body by acting like Somalia’s ruler before declaring him a persona non grata.
Mr Haysom had raised concerns about the killing of protesters allied with ex-militant Islamist Mukhtar Robow.
Security forces were allegedly involved in the deaths of about 15 of the protesters and the detention of about 300 people, the UN says.
The new special envoy is an experienced diplomat and senior foreign service official who has mostly worked in Africa.
He served as US ambassador to Djibouti from October 2008 to June 2011. In August 2013, he was appointed as the US ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source: bbc.co.uk

intel reports
Security and Risk Report 15/03/23
MAST’s security report issue 365 is available to read now. In the Gulf of Guinea, two incidents have been reported in the period observed. Nigeria’s