Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Dr Maryan Qasim on was on Wednesday involved in a bitter row with Amisom security at Aden Abdulle Airport over what she said was unfair treatment of her.
The new Minister claims she had been blocked from attending a meeting with EU Ambassador to Somalia.
“We are working under difficult circumstances in Somalia but there is no excuse for behaviour I saw today from Amisom soldier” Qasim protested in a tweet after the incident.
She termed her treatment and that of her female staff as “condescending” and “unacceptable”.
Qasim, however, did not go into details on exactly what aspired at the Medina Gate.
Amisom is yet to issue a statement over the Medina Gate drama. Somalis on social media were quick to condemn the alleged treatment accorded to Minister Qasim.
“If a minister is mistreated and disrespected by Amisom think of how rude they always behave against the ordinary Somali citizens” Mursal replied to the minister in a tweet.
“That is what happens when your country suffers an eclipse of empirical sovereignty. Don’t complain loudly grieve in silence” Ahmednasir Abdullahi replied to the minister in a tweet.
There have been similar claims of mistreatment of top government officials by Amisom security in the past.
In 2013 Police boss General Said’s vehicle was denied access into the VIP section of the Aden Abdulle Airport. It had to take the intervention of the Interior Minister to resolve the matter.
In the February presidential elections, a section of MPs had threatened to boycott the polls after what they claimed was mistreatment and lack of preferential treatment at the entrance of the polling hall.
