Attacks on UN office in Somalia

[ILJ_Digest]

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks in Northern Somalia on October 29, 2008. These attacks included a suicide car bombing at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound in Hargeisa which killed two UN staff and injured six others. Mr. Ban’s spokesperson states the Secretary-General “stresses the neutrality of the United Nations as well as humanitarian personnel, and urges all parties to support and facilitate the delivery of assistance to the Somali population.” Other explosions in the Hergaisa area and in Putland did not involve UN premises.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.* Despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal to end the fighting between the Transnational Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), recent months have been filled with violence
The UN assists peace efforts in this area through the UN Political office for Somalia (UNPOS), which is lead by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. A Deputy Special Representative, Charles Petrie, was appointed to assist these efforts.
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