US, EA gunrunners violating UN’s Somalia arms ban

Members of the UN panel presented these findings to Ugandan government officials last December. Gen Aronda Nyakairima, chief of defence of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, promised to conduct an immediate investigation and to communicate its results to the UN prior to January 1. But as of early April, when the monitors completed their newly released report, the Ugandan government had not responded to several UN follow-up requests for the promised information.

The African Union also has not replied to a November 14, 2007, UN letter requesting a meeting to discuss the monitoring group’s charges concerning the Ugandan members of the Somalia peacekeeping force.

“Several Somaliland army officers have undergone combat training in Ethiopia, delivered by instructors from the Ethiopian National Defence Force and the United States Army,” it adds.
It notes that the 1992 UN arms embargo resolution was extended in 2002 to include “training related to military activities.”

These sessions involving training for special operations and counter-terrorism are said to last six months and to be conducted at three military bases around Addis Ababa.

Somaliland officers receive “a significant financial incentive and new uniforms to participate in the training, which is very intensive,” the report says. “Upon their return to Somaliland, trained officers are generally put in command of a brigade, while continuing to receive a salary from the Ethiopian military. The training is part of wider assistance given to the Somaliland army, which allegedly includes arms and field material.”

The UN monitors also note that a US government spokesman confirmed an American missile strike on March 2 on targets in the village of Dobley in southeastern Somalia.

“The Monitoring Group considers all weapons delivered to Somalia a violation of the embargo, irrespective of the manner in which they were delivered,” the report states.

It notes that a letter requesting additional information was sent to the US government on March 12. No reply had been received by the time the report was submitted to the Security Council in April.

A UK Royal Air Force military plane landed at Berbera in Somaliland on November 26, 2007, carrying undisclosed cargo, the report adds. The British government said in a December 28 response to a UN query that the flight was part of “a routine liaison” that UK diplomatic staff in Addis Ababa maintain with Somaliland authorities. Further flights of that kind are expected, the British said in their reply to the UN monitoring group.