UN congratulated to Puntland's fairly elected president: Statement

Mr. Said
Abdullahi Deni and Mr. Ahmed Elmi Karash were elected as President and
Vice-President of Puntland, respectively, on Tuesday in Garowe town.
The deputy chief of UN mission
UNSOM, who is also UN Deputy Special Representative in the country, Raisedon
Zenenga, congratulated the electoral commission for organizing and conducting a
transparent, peaceful, free and fair electoral process.
"We look forward to working
closely with the administration of President Deni in Puntland," said Mr.
Zenenga in a statement. "We also commend outgoing
President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali 'Gaas' and his administration for overseeing a
peaceful transfer of power and for establishing conditions that enabled the
electoral commission to conduct a successful electoral process”, he added.
Mr. Zenenga is the
Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), following the decision by the Somali Federal
Government last week to expel the Special Representative of the UN
Secretary-General for Somalia, Nicholas Haysom, declaring him persona non
grata.
Mr. Haysom was accused by the
Government of interfering in its internal affairs, by questioning the legal
basis for the arrest of a former al-Shabab deputy leader early last month, who
was a leading candidate for election in South West state.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said
he deeply regretted the Government decision to expel the top envoy, a stance
backed by the 15-member UN Security Council, which cautioned that 2019 would be
a “critical year” for the country which is recovering from decades of civil
conflict and battling multiple challenges on the road to full political reform
and economic renewal.
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