After an arms embargo against Somalia for more than 30 years, the UN Security Council unanimously decided on Friday to lift the last restrictions on the country’s government and security forces receiving weapons.
In order to stop the flow of weapons to rival warlords who had overthrown dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked a civil war in the Horn of Africa, the council imposed an embargo on Somalia in 1992.
Two resolutions drafted by the British were approved by the 15-member body: one lifted the arms embargo on Somalia in its entirety and the other reinstated it on militants affiliated with al Qaeda in al-Shabaab.
For the purpose of removing any confusion, the resolution lifting the arms embargo states that “the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”
Additionally, it expresses concern regarding the dearth of secure ammunition storage facilities in Somalia and promotes the establishment, renovation, and utilisation of secure ammunition depots throughout the country. It calls on other nations to lend a hand. In 2013, the Security Council started to gradually ease sanctions against Somalia’s security forces.
Since 2006, Al Shabaab has waged a bloody insurgency against the Somali government in an attempt to impose its own strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law as the basis for its own form of government.
