In a groundbreaking decision, the United Nations Security Council lifted a decades long arms embargo on Somalia, marking a historic moment for the war-torn nation.
In a press statement, Somali federal government extended it’s profound gratitude to the United Nations Security Council for its momentous decision to fully lift the longstanding arms embargo on Somalia
Embargoes were imposed on Somalia by the UN in 1992 to stop the flow of weapons to feuding warlords who had ousted former President Mohamed Siad Barre and plunged the Horn of Africa nation into civil war.
It is stated in the resolution ending the arms embargo that “for the avoidance of doubt, there is no arms embargo on the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia.”
It also urges the building, renovation, and usage of safe ammunition depots throughout Somalia and expresses worry about the country’s lack of such facilities.
It exhorts other nations to lend support.
The lifting of the arms embargo enables us to confront security threats,” said Somalia’s U.N. Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman. “It also allows us to bolster the capacity of the Somali security forces by accessing lethal arms and equipment to adequately safeguard our citizens and our nation.
The Somali government had previously tabled its pleas to the UNSC on how the arms embargo bogged down it’s efficacy in combating Al-Shabaab insurgents. The Security Council began to partially start lifting measures against Somalia’s security forces in 2013.
Since 2006, Al Shabaab has waged a brutal insurgency against the Somali government with the aim of establishing its own supremacy.
This marked the longest arms embargo ever imposed on a nation.
