He replaces South African lawyer Nicholas Haysom who was expelled by Somali authorities for questioning their legal basis for arresting opposition activists.

James Swan will have his work cut out dealing with the Mogadishu administration led by Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed.

He has spent most of his career serving in African countries undergoing complex transitions.

Swan was US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Djibouti. He also served in Cameroon, Nicaragua and Haiti.

Haysom has been reassigned by UN boss Antonio Guterres to mediate in finding a solution between pro-democracy demonstrators and the military council that ousted Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir.

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South African Haysom was legal advisor to the late President Nelson Mandela.

Nicholas Haysom is an internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer. 

He’s been engaged by the United Nations in Afghanistan, Sudan and South Sudan.

Appointed by UN Secretary General António Guterres as his special envoy in Somalia, Haysom asked about the killing of supporters of former Al Shabaab spokesman Mukhtar Robow and the detention of 3 000 people.

Robow has sought to run as regional president after falling out with the jihadis.

The authorities have overruled the electoral commission’s approval of Robow’s candidacy and arrested him.

For questioning this crackdown on dissent, Haysom has been accused by the government of acting like the ruler of the country  and expelled.

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