[How is the UN going to prevent a war there? Clearly all sides are pouring in weapons. The United Nations is a complete farce. They can’t achieve anything. I mentioned in the past the CIA funding sides there. But so are the Arabs and others. Somalia and Ethiopia could become a big battleground – that’s all there is to it. I note with interest the reports of some Muslims from Africa going to fight against Israel. These wars are all interlinked. Jan]

UN discusses illegal Somali arms

UN experts have told a security council committee of their findings of extensive illegal arms flows into Somalia.

United Nations – United Nations experts briefed a security council committee on Friday on their findings of extensive illegal arms flows into Somalia, but the committee put off action on the report until next week.

An advance copy of the report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, laid out the most comprehensive picture yet of disparate foreign interests pouring arms, ammunition, money, supplies and other help to Somalia’s shaky interim government or its powerful Islamic court rivals, despite a UN arms embargo.

Both groups have been vying for control since the Islamic courts took the capital Mogadishu from United States-backed warlords in June.

According to the report by four UN-appointed experts, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria provided illicit support to the Islamic courts while Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen illegally helped supply the interim government.

The report also charged that Iran may have sought to trade arms for uranium from Somalia or elsewhere in Africa to fuel its nuclear ambitions.

Possible actions to stem arms flow

It said about 720 Somali Islamic court fighters, selected by Afghanistan-trained hard-line Islamist commander Adan Hashi Farah “Ayro”, had gone to Lebanon to fight Israel alongside Hezbollah in mid-July.

Several of the governments named in the draft report have told the UN that its allegations were false or unfounded.

The experts were instructed not to speak to reporters after this week’s extensive leaks, but sources attending the closed-door meeting said they had provided a thorough presentation, lasting more than an hour, that was largely well-received by the committee.

Among the committee’s options was to endorse the report or to simply refer it to the full 15-nation security council without its approval, said diplomats.

Blockade proposed

They said that committee members would discuss next week possible council actions to stem the tide of weapons pouring into the unstable and chaotic Horn of Africa nation.

Some committee members questioned whether some of the findings could be further verified or edited before the report was sent to the council but no decisions were made, said the sources.

To avoid more leaks, said the sources, the committee members had also agreed not to discuss with the media what particular points they might be sceptical on.

To keep the arms build-up from degenerating into war, the experts’ report recommended that the security council enact a land, sea and air blockade on Somalia and freeze the overseas assets of Somali businesses linked to weapons violations.

They also urged high-level diplomatic pressure to stop the states involved from shipping more weapons.

Source: News24.Com
URL: http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2…/p>