Monday, February 17, 2014

Confidential UN Report Warns of Systematic Diversion of Somali Arms

Reuters obtained access to a 14-page confidential report to the UN Security Council prepared by the UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group.  The 13 February 2014 article titled "Exclusive - U.N. Monitors Warn of 'Systematic' Somali Arms Diversion" by Louis Charbonneau charges high-level and systematic abuses in weapons and ammunition management distribution by the Somali government.

The UN report said the Somali government is distributing arms to "parallel security forces and clan militias that are not part of the Somali security forces," identifing arms to Abgaal and Habar Gedir sub-clans in particular.  According to the report, arms also went to al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Yusuf Isse.  The report concluded that the government's security policy is being captured by clan and sub-clan politics.