UN monitors accuse the Somali government of distributing arms to "parallel security forces and clan militias that are not part of the Somali forces."

[Admin]

 

UNITED NATIONS: A confidential U.N. monitors' report warns of "systematic abuses" by Somalia's government, which the monitors say has allowed the diversion of weapons Somali authorities purchased after the U.N. Security Council eased an arms embargo on Mogadishu last year.

 

Some of the arms believed to have been diverted in the conflict-torn Horn of Africa nation were earmarked for a leader of the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab, the monitors said in their report, which was obtained by Reuters.

 

In their 14-page report to the Security Council's sanctions committee, the U.N. Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group recommends either restoring the full arms embargo or at least tightening notification and reporting requirements related to arms deliveries.

 

"The Monitoring Group has identified a number of issues and concerns over current management of weapons and ammunition stockpiles by the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), which point to high-level and systematic abuses in weapons and ammunition management and distribution," the report said.

 

The monitoring group is a panel of independent experts that track compliance with the U.N. Somalia-Eritrea sanctions regime.

 

The council's decision to ease Somalia's decades-old arms embargo last March was a controversial one. Some members of the 15-nation council disagreed with it, although Washington supported the Somali government's appeals for relaxing restrictions to enable it to better arm its security forces to fight al Shabaab.

 

The new report details difficulties the monitors have had in getting access to weapons stockpiles in Somalia and information about the country's growing arsenal. It says the government canceled several inspections of Somali armories the monitors and U.N. officials in Somalia had planned to undertake.

 

The monitors describe how parts of shipments of weapons from Uganda and Djibouti, including assault rifles, rocket launchers, grenades and ammunition "could not be accounted for." The report also mentioned discrepancies about what had happened to arms sent from Ethiopia.

 

"Given the gaps in information ... it is impossible to quantify what the scale of diversion of weapons stocks have been," the report said. "However, the Monitoring Group has obtained other pieces of qualitative evidence that point towards systematic abuses by the (Somali army)."

 

AL SHABAAB

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. Somalia held its first vote since 1991 in 2012 to elect a president and prime minister.

 

For two decades Somalia was virtually lawless.

 

The monitors' report said that it has identified at least two clan-based "centers of gravity" for arms procurement within Somali government structures that are distributing arms to "parallel security forces and clan militias that are not part of the Somali security forces."

 

One of those groups is within the sub-clan of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who last month said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to extend the partial lifting of the embargo beyond its March expiry because government troops needed more and better equipment to battle al Shabaab.

 

The monitors' report said "a key adviser to the president, from his sub-clan, has been involved in planning weapons deliveries to al Shabaab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse ... who is also from the President's sub-clan."

 

The report also referred to the role played by a Somali government minister from the Galgaduud subclan in relation to arms purchases from a "foreign government in the Gulf" - a government the report does not identify.

 

"The Monitoring Group has received credible evidence of un-notified weapons deliveries by air from the Gulf state to Mogadishu during the course of October 2013, which would constitute a direct violation of the arms embargo," it said.

 

"Indeed, after delivery, some of the weapons were moved to a private location in Mogadishu," the monitors said.

 

The easing of the U.N. arms embargo has allowed sales of such weapons as automatic assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but left 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.

 

"The trends described above demonstrate that the implementation of the (government's) security policy is being captured by clan and sub-clan politics," the report said.

 

"Weapons distribution along clan lines for the prosecution of clan warfare is ultimately reducing the prospect of a cohesive strategy by the (government) against al Shabaab."

 

The report said private arms markets have popped up in Mogadishu where weapons diverted from the army have been sold.

 

The monitoring group presented eight options for the arms embargo next month when the current easing of weapons-import restrictions expires. The options it offers the Security Council range from lifting the arms embargo altogether to restoring the full embargo and possibly adding new measures.

 

The monitoring group recommends either restoring the full embargo as it was before the restrictions were eased last year or at least keeping it as is and introducing stricter rules regarding notifying and reporting to the U.N. sanctions committee regarding arms sales to Somalia.

 

It also suggests the possibility of beefing up the U.N. mission in Somalia by attaching a verification team to it that would track arms deliveries and stockpiles in Somalia.

 

Source: Reuters

http://www.somaliaonline.com/un-monitors-accuse-the-somalia-government-of-distributing-arms-to-parallel-security-forces-and-clan-militias-that-are-not-part-of-the-somali-forces/

[Johnny B]

The monitors’ report said that it has identified at least two clan-based “centers of gravity” for arms procurement within Somali government structures that are distributing arms to “parallel security forces and clan militias that are not part of the Somali security forces.

 

And there we go with the investigations of IDENTIFYING .

clan-based “centers of gravity” in Somalia's government.

 

Wake me up the day a report that is unable to find clan-based “centers of gravities” in Somalia comes up.

[Homunculus]

Mooge, I apologize. Everything you say is true apparently. How can people be so twisted that they give weapons to their "enemies" to shell their own people.

[Johnny B]

And the correlation between Mooge's often baseless diatribes and the trueness of what is being reported is ?

[Homunculus]

<cite>

@Johnny B

said:</cite>

And the correlation between Mooge's often baseless diatribes and the trueness of what is being reported is ?

 

Mooge is often wrong but he got this one right, or maybe he is right more than I thought but his delivery is ruined by vitriol.

[Gheelle.T]

"The new report details difficulties the monitors have had in getting access to weapons stockpiles in Somalia and information about the country’s growing arsenal. It says the government canceled several inspections of Somali armories the monitors and U.N. officials in Somalia had planned to undertake."

 

Denying the UN monitors easy access to the stockpiles of the imported armories is a direct violation of the Security Council's Resolution that lifted the arms embargo.

 

It was the Central Bank fiasco of last year, then came the US of accusing the president being a weak leader, and now this, let's see how the government handles all of these.

[DoctorKenney]

This is sickening to read.

 

There have been several scandals plaguing this President recently. Hopefully 2014 is a difficult year for Hassan Sheikh, and that he's forced to resign from power as soon as possible.

[SomaliPhilosopher]

and these same monitors said abdi aynte flew in the country with a briefcase of cash for professor hassan sheikh. These guys are worse than fadhi ku dirir gossip. such reports do not warrant consideration. your time is better spent reading some tabloid magazine, at least it has pictures.

[ElPunto]

While many UN reports on Somalia are ill-informed or incomplete - it is interesting to see the key aspects of this report borne out in Somalia. The fight against al-Shabaab has become virtually non-existent and the security situation has declined in Mogadishu under this administration. Why? This report hints at links between the current crop and top al-Shabaab. It's best to deal with those facts rather than engaging in empty dismissals.

 

 

[Mooge]

I told you guys that qoslaaye was destroying the country and most of you thought I was wrong. if a sitting president can have his own corrupt clan members divert government weapon to the same enemy we are fighting, this is a bottomless hole. we all know qoslaye is alshabab. The reason why alshabab didn't bomb his villa somali before was that he had a deal with them. the deal was broken two weeks ago after qoslaye found out the UN report is coming. he told Alshabab he can't give them weapons anymore and Alshabab is giving him the reply he needs today with constant bombardment of the whole city.

 

Johhny, supporting this government is like an insane man filling open-bottom fuusto all day with water. i know he is your uncle and you care about him, but niyoow make sense for once in your life and stop supporting qoslaye.

[Johnny B]

<cite>

@ElPunto

said:</cite>

While many UN reports on Somalia are ill-informed or incomplete - it is interesting to see the key aspects of this report borne out in Somalia. The fight against al-Shabaab has become virtually non-existent and the security situation has declined in Mogadishu under this administration. Why?

Nothing is new in the above, true that the security situation is not the best but then neither Baghdad nor Kabul are much better than Mogadishu, despite their huge security apparatus costs, as for the non-existence of the war against the terror group, you're being lazy there giving the layman account of it, forgetting that under the TFG, Al-shabab had a huge regular army to fight while today the Somali forces and their Amisom supporters are fighting suicide bombers and what terror act have you.

 

 

 

<cite>

@ElPunto

said:</cite>This report hints at links between the current crop and top al-Shabaab. It's best to deal with those facts rather than engaging in empty dismissals.

 

hmmm, from hints to facts the gap is way too huge, how about a non wanting succinctness ?

[ElPunto]

^Not sure if you choose to put your head in the sand deliberately or this is based on naivete. The security situation in Mogadishu has deteriorated since Culusow took over. Pushing al shabaab out of more places in the south has come to a standstill. That is new. The question is why?

 

I was being gentle in using 'hints at' but here is the direct quote:

 

The monitors’ report said “a key adviser to the president, from his sub-clan, has been involved in planning weapons deliveries to al Shabaab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse … who is also from the President’s sub-clan.”

 

It is best to deal with this head on rather than tangent to nonsense regarding Baghdad and Kabul.

[Johnny B]

<cite>

@ElPunto

said:</cite>

 

I was being gentle in using 'hints at' but here is the direct quote:

 

The monitors’ report said “a key adviser to the president, from his sub-clan, has been involved in planning weapons deliveries to al Shabaab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse … who is also from the President’s sub-clan.”

 

It is best to deal with this head on rather than tangent to nonsense regarding Baghdad and Kabul.

 

I see, it is "this" that you find disturbing in the report.

Tell me which of the following you find unbearable,

the key adviser, the involvement, the planning of weapons deliveries, the belonging to the sub clan of the president, or the Al-shabab leader ?

 

Going by this report , you've to believe that Somalia is run by an Al-shabab govt .

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Writing these kind of reports waxee noqotay a yearly mashruuc for Nayroobi-based 'monitoring' team. In a certain time each year they will write from their cushy apartments in Nayroobi and claim outlandish accussations with zero evidence in order to justify their well-paid jobs with minimum work.

 

Some Soomaalida always fall for these kind of amateurish reports because it justifies what they already wanted to believe, mostly for qabyaalad reasons.

[Johnny B]

<cite>

@Mooge

said:</cite>

 

Johhny, supporting this government is like an insane man filling open-bottom fuusto all day with water. i know he is your uncle and you care about him, but niyoow make sense for once in your life and stop supporting qoslaye.

 

True that he is my uncle, but unlike you , I supported your uncle too.

For you , that he IS my uncle is enough to oppose Somalia and it's leadership, whereas for me it was enough that your uncle was Secularist to win my support, quite a diff huh?!