UNSC lifts arms embargo on Somalia for 1 year

Responding to the Somali Government's request, the UN Security Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to lift the arms embargo on Somalia, in place since 1992, for one year as of today. Somali Foreign Minister Fauzia Yusuf Haji Adan appealed to the Council in an open meeting last month to discuss the situation in her country to lift the arms embargo in order to allow the Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) to "assume full responsibility for our security" and to defeat the terrorist group Al Shabaab. The Council requested that the weapons to be sold or supplied to the SNSF may not be resold to, transferred to, or made available for use by any individual or entity not in service of SNSF or the government. Some weapons, such as surface to air missiles, higher calibre guns and mortars, anti-tank guided weapons, mines, and night vision sights, will, however, remain prohibited. Some international human rights groups, on the contrary, campaigned against the lifting of the arms embargo out of concern at what impact an influx of weapons would do in a country already awash in arms. The Council requested the Somali government to report to it within one month from now and again every six months thereafter on the structure of the SNSF and the infrastructure and procedures it has established for storing, maintaining and distributing weapons. The Council also authorized in this resolution the continued deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for one year, until February 28, 2014, in order to provide protection to the Federal Government so that it carries out its functions and provide security for the key infrastructures. Acting upon recommendation from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Council decided to close down the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), and expressed reluctance to send a UN peacekeeping force to Somalia in the near future because the conditions are not "appropriate" yet. The Council requested the Secretary-General, however, to set benchmarks for when it might be appropriate to deploy such a force.