http://mg.co.za/article/2014-02-15-somali-government-accused-of-diverting-weapons-to-warlords
Somali government accused of diverting weapons to warlords
15 Feb 2014 13:58 Edith M Lederer
UN experts say systematic government abuses have allowed weapons and
ammunition to get into the hands of clan leaders, warlords and al-Qaeda
members.
The experts, who are monitoring the partial lifting of an arms embargo on
Somalia, recommended that the UN Security Council re-impose a full arms
embargo when the 12-month partial suspension ends in early March.
As a possible alternative, it said the government must be subject to
enhanced notification and reporting requirements for arms deliveries, "if
not a partial tightening." A letter from the experts monitoring sanctions
against Somalia and Eritrea, obtained on Friday by the Associated Press,
details a number of incidents of weapons being diverted from the government
- including one to a leader of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab.
A call to Somalia's UN Mission seeking comment was not answered. Somalia
has been trying to establish its first functioning central government since
1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and turned on each other,
plunging the impoverished nation into chaos.
Al-Shabab rebels were ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 and have
been pushed out of other key cities, but they are not yet defeated. The
government, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, controls only small
parts of the country and is struggling to provide security and battle
corruption.
*Weapons delivery to al-Shabab*
The monitoring group said the Somali government denied them access to
several arsenals, and in the ones they visited they found discrepancies
between lists of delivered weapons and ammunition, and what was actually in
the warehouses. Individuals from president Mohamud's Abgaal sub-clan
"appear to be dominating the procurement of weapons as well as their
distribution" from army stockpiles, the experts said.
"In addition, the monitoring group has also obtained documentary evidence
corroborating information that a key adviser to the president, from his
Abgaal sub-clan, has been involved in planning weapons deliveries to
al-Shabab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse 'Kabukatukade,' who is also Abgaal," the
letter said.
The monitoring group said that the government's security policy "is being
captured by clan and sub-clan politics" and as a result, it said, "weapons
distribution along clan lines for the purpose of prosecuting clan warfare
is ultimately reducing the prospect of a cohesive strategy by the
(government) against al-Shabab." - Sapa
Received on Sat Feb 15 2014 - 13:09:38 EST