Explanation of Vote delivered by the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, at the Security Council meeting on the draft Resolution for the renewal of the sanctions against Somalia and Eritrea ---

Italy shares deep cultural, economic, historical and strategic ties with the whole horn of Africa and it is deeply committed to the full restoration of peace and security in the region.

Therefore we welcome the adoption of Resolution 2385.

We thank the penholder and the United Kingdom for the excellent work

We spare no effort in negotiating the text adopted today, to introduce some provisions that could reflect the evolution of the situation and open the way for reviews of the sanction regime in the near future, allowing us to fully support this text.

Regarding Somalia, the Resolution condemns the violations of the arms embargo, which undermine the Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity. Moreover, for the first time, the Security Council has recognized Somalia’s progress in arms control and has committed to revising the embargo once Mogadishu has met all the conditions.

Turning to Eritrea, the Security Council recognizes – for the first time in the operative part of the resolution – that there is no conclusive evidence of the alleged support of Eritrea to Al-Shabaab, as the Monitoring Group has been stating for four years. The Security Council committed to reviewing the sanctions on Eritrea again, starting in the next semester. To this end, Eritrea should enhance its cooperation with the Sanctions Committee and the SEMG, in particular facilitating a visit by the Chair of Committee. Cooperation with them is not an option, it is mandatory requirement in order to open more doors fin the coming months.

Sanctions are an instrument, not an end. Like every instrument, they must be revised when new circumstances require it. Somalia and Eritrea should seize the opportunities offered by the resolution adopted today.

 Security Council - Meeting on the draft Resolution regarding the situation in Somalia