In a statement on Wednesday, the Somali government said Nicholas Haysom has been told to leave the country after acting in ways that shamed the UN.
The statement said Haycom was no longer welcomed to stay and work in the country but stopped short of stating the exact reason for his expulsion.
In recent weeks the UN diplomat has been critical of the government and security agencies for an alleged crackdown on demonstrators in the southwestern town of Baidoa.
Several people there were killed by security forces as they took to the streets to protest the arrest and detention of Mukhtar Robow, a former al-Shabaab militant who had renounced violence and vowed to participate ‘constructively’ in Somali politics.
He had even announced his bid to run for president but was banned from taking part, sparking a wave of demonstrations in the southwest of the country leading to the arrest and detention of some 300 protesters.
The Somali government said Robow had not abandoned his ‘extremist ideology’.
Haycom, a South African citizen who was appointed by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guteress as his special representative in Somalia last September, had criticized Robow’s detention and the arrest of his supporters.
The UN involvement in Somalia is mainly to provide logistical support to the hybrid peacekeepers in the war-torn country, paying their wages and providing them training and uniforms.