Somalia working on strategy to overcome UN arms embargo

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The federal government of Somalia has devised a new strategy meant to beat the United Nations [UN] arms embargo, a ban which the country is keen to have lifted as it prepares for the second and perhaps the final assault against Al-Shabaab militants who still control most parts of central and southern regions.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who has been vocal in the fight against Al-Shabaab, appointed Marwp Mako Mohamud Muse as the new advisor on controlling illegal arms in the country, with Somalia now keen to persuade the United Nations to lift the arms embargo on the struggling nation.

The appointment, Mohamud said, is a strategic plan to have the sanctions on arms lifted by the global body. Mohamud stressed the importance of managing arms effectively to prevent them from falling into unauthorized hands, further destabilizing Somalia's security situation.

For the umpteenth time, Somalia has tried to persuade the United Nations Security Council to lift its sanctions but such moves are yet to be approved, with the global body citing the illegal flow of arms to the country. There are claims that most illegal weapons are sneaked into Somalia from war-torn Yemen.

Previously, Mako Mohamud Muse contested for parliamentary elections in the just concluded elections but she lost to Sahro Omar Maalin. Further inquiry shows that she lived in London and worked with a leading foreign exchange service called Travelex.

However, her expertise in the global and regional arms control landscape remains unclear, raising questions about her suitability for this challenging role, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud emphasized, adding that his commitment to "fix" the country was unstoppable.

Somalia was first blacklisted by the UN through a ban on the importation of weapons in 1992 but over the years, progress has been made which could engineer the lifting of the ban. The partial lifting of the embargo was activated in 2013 and the most recent one was approved by the UN in November 2022.

The country insists that the arms embargo has been an impediment in the fight against Al-Shabaab, a group that controls several parts of the country. In the next few weeks, the country is set to dispatch several soldiers to Southwest and Jubaland for the second phase of operations against the Al-Qaeda-linked group.

GAROWE ONLINE