Somalia: Lifting the Arms Embargo Spells New Catastrophe for Somalia

8 February 2013
editorial

Somalia needs a major disarmament and demobilization plan, but instead the country's new president is asking for more weapons.

Debate over lifting of the 1992 U.N. Security Council arms embargo on Somalia has been revived with intensity by the country's new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, with a somewhat reluctant voice of support from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On Feb. 5, 2013, Reuters newswire wrote: " Several diplomats noted that Ban's recommendation to end the embargo was so weakly worded it was barely a recommendation at all. The wording was: "...the Security Council may wish to consider the repeated request by the (Somali) government for lifting the arms embargo."

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