http://www.trust.org/item/20140305161207-znxc2/?U.N. extends partial easing
of Somalia arms embargo to OctoberSource: Reuters - Wed, 5 Mar 2014 04:33 PM
Author: Reuters
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, March 5 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday
extended a partial suspension of the decades-old arms embargo on Somalia
for eight months while highlighting concerns about the possible diversion
of weapons to al Qaeda-linked militants.
A resolution unanimously adopted by the council has its members "condemning
flows of weapons and ammunition supplies to and through Somalia in
violation of the arms embargo on Somalia, as well as the destabilizing
accumulation of such weapons, as a serious threat to peace and stability in
the region."
A year ago, the 15-nation Security Council agreed to partially lift the
arms embargo on Somalia, allowing the government in Mogadishu to buy light
weapons to strengthen its security forces to fight the Islamist group al
Shabaab and other militants.
Instead of extending that partial easing for a year, or scrapping the
embargo entirely as the Somalia government would have liked, the council
resolution renews it only until Oct. 25, which is when U.N. experts who
monitor the embargo and other sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea are due to
report back.
"The resolution makes very clear that the Somali authorities need to meet
strict conditions on the monitoring and reporting of arms imports into
Somalia to ensure in particular that they do not get into the hands of al
Shabaab," British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.
The U.N. Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group recommended in a confidential
report to the Security Council's sanctions committees last month that
either the full arms embargo be restored or at least notification and
reporting requirements related to arms deliveries be tightened.
The council accepted the latter recommendation.
The monitors' report, obtained by Reuters, warns of "systematic abuses" by
Somalia's government, which the monitors say has allowed the diversion of
weapons that Somali authorities purchased thanks to the easing of
restrictions on arms sales.
AWASH WITH WEAPONS
Somalia's government last year had asked for the arms embargo to be fully
removed, and the United States supported that. But other Security Council
members were wary of doing that in a country already awash with weapons.
The Security Council imposed the embargo on Somalia in 1992 to cut the flow
of weapons to feuding warlords, who a year earlier had ousted dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged the country into civil war. In 2012, Somalia
held its first vote since 1991 to elect a president and prime minister.
The eased restrictions allow sales to the government of such weapons as
automatic assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but leave in place
a ban on surface-to-air missiles, large-caliber guns, howitzers, cannons
and mortars as well as anti-tank guided weapons, mines and night-vision
weapon sights.
Under U.N. rules, weapons and military equipment may not be resold or
transferred to any individual or entity outside of the Somali security
forces.
The Security Council is asking Somalia's government to report regularly on
the structure of the security forces and the infrastructure and procedures
in place to ensure safe storage, maintenance and distribution of military
equipment.
There is a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force and a U.N.
political mission in the Horn of Africa country. The African Union force is
planning a major offensive against al Shabaab, U.N. diplomats and officials
say. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Received on Thu Mar 06 2014 - 09:19:50 EST