December 2, 2023

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Saturday welcomed a U.N. Security Council vote to lift an arms embargo imposed on the Horn of Africa nation more than 30 years ago.

The Council’s 15 member countries voted unanimously Friday night in favor of the British-drafted resolution to lift the weapons ban. However, France was the only member to abstain from voting on another resolution to reimpose an arms embargo on al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants, claiming the resolution lacked references to territorial disputes between Djibouti and Eritrea. .

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Information Minister Daud Aweis said that lifting the embargo will help modernize the country’s armed forces. “Somalia has been grappling with significant security challenges, including the presence of extremist groups such as Al Shabab. “The Somali government needs access to modern weapons and equipment to effectively combat these threats and maintain security within its borders,” the statement said.

The Somali president, in a televised speech shortly following the resolution’s adoption, stated that the lifting of the embargo “means that we are now free to buy any weapons we need,” adding that “friendly nations and allies” can now “provide us with the necessary weapons without limitations or restrictions.”

Somalia was placed under embargo in 1992 to stop arms sales to military chiefs who overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The overthrow sparked decades of civil war and instability in the country as military leaders fought among themselves.

Last month, Mohamud pledged to end the Islamist group al-Shabab by December 2024. The militant group has lost swaths of territory since the government, backed by local militias, African Union troops and Western powers, launched a extensive offensive once morest him in May.

Somalia has been ravaged by years of conflict and for decades has relied heavily on the support of African Union forces, as well as Western powers such as the United States and Turkey, to maintain security and counter the threat posed by the groups. Islamic militants operating in the country.