Special to Wardheernews
By Hassan M. Abukar
Somalia’s United Nations (UN) abstention last week on the resolution condemning Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights was a mistake, Ahmed Awad, Somalia’s Foreign Minister, said yesterday while visiting Morocco.
According to Awad, “The abstention was a mistake made by our ambassador Fadumo Mohamud.”
Indeed, Somalia recalled Ambassador Mohamud one day after the vote.
“The ambassador herself requested the vote to be changed to reflect the government’s position,” Awad added.
Awad said that he was dismayed with the ambassador’s abstention, which precipitated the decision to recall her to Mogadishu.
Ambassador Mohamud has yet to issue a statement regarding the vote and attempts to reach her have been unsuccessful.
The abstention surprised many because Somalia has condemned Israeli’s occupation of the Golan Heights including in 1967 and its subsequent unilateral annexation of the territory in 1981. Oddly, however, Somalia voted in favor of two other resolutions last week regarding Palestinians’ right to self-determination and condemnation of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, has 47 member-states. Twenty-six countries voted against Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights; 16 opposed the resolution censuring Israel’s occupation, and 5 abstained (Somalia, Cameron, Fiji, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda).
The resolution on the Golan Heights was introduced in response to President Donald Trump’s decision last week for the United States to recognize Israel’s annexation of the occupied Syrian territory.
Wardheernews
