MOGADISHU, Oct. 27– The United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) will complete its two-year transition and cease operations on Oct. 31, the United Nations (UN) said on Monday.
The closure follows UN Security Council resolutions 2753 (2024) and 2809 (2025) and comes in response to a request from the Somali government.
On the same day, UNTMIS Officer-in-Charge Raisedon Zenenga and Somali Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama co-led a ceremony marking the conclusion of the mission’s mandate.
The ceremony was attended by senior government officials, international partners, civil society representatives and senior UN personnel.
“As UNTMIS concludes its mandate, we do so with gratitude for the trust and partnership extended to us, with pride in the dedication and achievements of UN personnel in Somalia, and deep respect for the resilience and determination of the Somali people,” Zenenga said in a statement.
“Above all, we leave with the conviction that the partnership between Somalia and the UN will endure, together with our shared hope for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Somalia,” he added.
Unlike military missions, UNTMIS was a political mission that provided support to Somali authorities in areas including elections, justice, security sector reform and human rights.
The closure will not affect the separate African Union mission deployed to support security and stabilization efforts in Somalia, including operations against al-Shabab.
Zenenga emphasized that the closure did not signal the end of UN support for Somalia or diminish the commitment of its international partners. Instead, he said, the transition marked a new chapter in the partnership between the UN and Somalia.
The closure marks the end of a UN political mission presence in Somalia that dated back to 2013, when the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) was established.
UNSOM was replaced by UNTMIS in November 2024 as part of a two-year transition aimed at transferring the mission’s functions to Somali institutions and the UN country team. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
