The UN Security Council (UNSC) last week extended sanctions on Somalia's militant group Al Shabaab, allowing member states to seize vessels delivering weapons to the group it still sees as an elusive threat.
It means the militant group is barred from accessing weapons from the open market and sellers barred from trading with Al Shabaab including buying charcoal from the group.
The sanctions regime will last at least until December 13, 2025. The Council also renewed the mandate of the Panel of Experts, assisting the Al Shabaab sanctions regime until January 13, 2026.
Resolution 2776 (2025) was endorsed by all the 15 member, citing Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations decided that all States shall, for the purposes of preventing Al Shabaab and other actors intent on undermining peace and security in Somalia and the region from obtaining weapons and ammunition, take the necessary measures to prevent all deliveries of weapons, ammunition and military equipment to Somalia.
The Council further decided that these measures shall not apply to deliveries or supplies to the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Somali National Army (SNA), the National Intelligence and Security Agency, the Somali National Police Force and the Somali Custodial Corps.
It is the second time in a year the Council has provided such an exemption. In December 2023, the Council had lifted sanctions on Somalia overall, first imposed in 1993 to forestall a civil war.
However, that sanctions regime had been extended and varied over the years, targeting Al Shabaab and the general lawlessness in Somalia.
By December 2023, Somalia had argued the sanctions were punishing a formal government and placing it in the same group as Al Shabaab.
The Council would then vary the new regime only focused on Al Shabaab.
The adopted resolution this week also recognises the particular concern posed by flows of weapons from Yemen to Somalia.
Al Shabaab’s links to the Houthi rebels are part of a wider pattern of Houthi destabilising activity beyond Yemen’s borders.
In February, the Council decided to extend the mandate of the EU maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in relation to the Red Sea crisis (EUNAVFOR ASPIDES) until February 28, 2026, with a reference amount of over €17 million ($17.3 million) for the period.
The decision was taken following the strategic review of the operation.
Furthermore the Council decided that in order to ensure maritime situation awareness in the area of operation, Operation ASPIDES should be able to collect information in addition to data necessary to protect vessels, on arms trafficking and on shadow fleets with a view to sharing this information with member states ,the European Commission, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the International Maritime Organisation (Imo).
EUNAVFOR ASPIDES was established in February 2024 as a defensive maritime security operation with the objective of restoring and safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf.
The operation is active along the main sea lines of communication in the Baab al-Mandab Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as international waters in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf and ensures an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023.
The operation is headquartered in Larissa, Greece and headed by Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis.
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