The UN recognized a non-existent Mogadishu government while ignoring the functioning Somaliland one.

Evidence

The ironic paradox in the summer of 2002 was that, while a government did not actually exist in Mogadishu, it was recognized and disingenuously promoted by the U.N.; in contrast, the functioning and democratically elected Somaliland government, that owed virtually everything to its own efforts, remained unrecognized. This absurd anomaly did nothing to assist southern Somalia’s recovery. Indeed, in many respects it retarded its real development. However much it may have served the interests of numerous layers of U.N. bureaucracy (and subsidiary professional peace makers), and sustained Italian nostalgia, this travesty of reality condemned the T.N.G. to a fantasy existence, and obscured and distorted the true situation in southern Somalia. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 705

Categorization

• XREF: Ties into the reader’s arc goal: this paradox is the climax tension between recognized illegitimate state and unrecognized viable state that closes Lewis’s narrative. — connects to: Siyad fled Mogadishu in January 1991, and clan divisions became Somalia’s only security structure; International recognition was awarded to a phantom government while the functioning one was ignored.; International recognition rewarded a phantom government while ignoring the functioning Somaliland one (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The interim government never controlled even Mogadishu itself. #corroborates (0.75) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 684