UN set to ease Somalia arms embargo

[Mario B]

The UN Security Council is set to ease a two decade old arms embargo against Somalia to help the new government in its battle against Islamist militants, diplomats said Wednesday.

 

The United States has been supporting a campaign by the Somali government for the embargo to be ended, while Britain and France have been more reluctant to let more arms into a country already awash with guns, diplomats said.

 

The measure is likely to be part of a council resolution renewing the mandate of the African Union military force in Somalia which should be passed on Wednesday next week.

 

The Security Council imposed a total arms embargo in 1992 as feuding warlords battled for control of the country after ousting dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

 

A UN diplomat said Britain is drafting the resolution which set out the new measures, but that negotiations are still being held.

 

The council could decide to ease the embargo against government purchases of arms for a year but exclude certain types of weaponry such as air defense systems, the diplomat said.

 

"There is a a good argument for sending a strong signal that the new government is increasingly exercising sovereignty, and on the other hand continuing concerns about security," the diplomat said.

 

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office last year, but is still kept in power mainly by the 17,000 strong African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), toured western capitals last month to demand an end to the embargo.

 

"What the Somali government partly wants is a political signal that they are now a sovereign government and we're supporting them, rather than a trusteeship," said another UN diplomat. "They say the bad guys are getting weapons and the good guys are not."

 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also given conditional support to lifting the embargo.

 

"Enhanced efforts are ... urgently needed to develop the Somali National Security Forces," Ban said in a recent report to the Security Council in which he said it "may wish to consider the repeated request by the government for lifting the arms embargo."

 

Ban warned that while Shebab Islamist militants have suffered major losses "these spoilers will seize any opportunity to reverse the gains."

 

AMISOM's current UN mandate ends on March 7. The Security Council is currently scheduled to meet the day before to vote a resolution on the force and setting up a UN political office in Mogadishu.

 

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130227/un-set-ease-somalia-arms-embargo

[Abwaan]

Thanks for sharing this Mario B.

[Haatu]

Let him buy all the weapons in the world and shoot every b@stard that stands in his way. It's the only way some people understand.

[Abwaan]

easy Haatu, nin colaadeed maba aadan ahayn. Ninyahow sabanka la joogo ma u malaynayo in dowlad inta dad Soomaaliyeed gumaaddo in loo aamusayo. Colaadda aan ka gudubno oo nabadda u gudubno. I can promise you inaan magacayga qof Soomaali ah oo aan waxba galabsan lagu dilleyn ninkii taas yeelayana isagay u taal.

[Gheelle.T]

Haatu;922354 wrote:

Let him buy all the weapons in the world and shoot every b@stard that stands in his way. It's the only way some people understand.

Midaas Inna Barre(AUN) ayaa wax ku xallin lahaa.

[Abwaan]

loool.....Inna Siad (AUN) baa iska ba'ay keligiis un baa tusaale loo soo qaadan....War AY(AUN) baa ku xallin lahaa maad tiraahdid haddii aad run sheegeysid?

[Saalax]

Haatu Everyone can purchase weapons even Al shabab since it still controls large swaths of southern Somalia.

[Gheelle.T]

^Adigu waligaa Ghosts reerka ahi ha ku dul maraan. Did Yey buy all the weapons in the world as Haatu implies. Or was he more powerful than Barre's government? The context here is "power." That at at least that's what Haatu was implying.

[Mario B]

Our military will be apolitical, any ensuing disagreement regarding constitution or legal or political matters will be dealt through the court system. Anyone who thinks he can get his way through a barrel of a gun is deluded, including the President. We need to promote a culture based on rule of law and not might is right.

[Gheelle.T]

^Yeah, while you at it, add that those who feel being wronged, will be able to sue the government.! Classic.

[xiinfaniin]

Partial easing of the embargo is not bad, waa sida keliya oo lagu tijaabin karo qolodaan Xasan madaxda u yahay.

[Mario B]

Gheelle.T;922388 wrote:

^Yeah, while you at it, add that those who feel being wronged, will be able to sue the government.! Classic.

And who wronged you? And what is the purpose of a government if it can't redress your grievous?:confused:

[Gheelle.T]

You make it sound like we are in Texas. There are thousand and one hurdles to jump before we can even think of getting there.

[Abwaan]

xiinfaniin;922401 wrote:

Partial

easing of the embargo is

not bad

, waa sida keliya oo lagu tijaabin karo qolodaan Xasan madaxda u yahay.

It is good to see this change of position xiin. It looks like you have accepted the reality.

[xiinfaniin]

Yes, Abwaan beat me to shape in accepting the said reality.

 

Wakaa caqliga USC