New York [US], September 24: Somalian Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, speaking at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, called on the global community to lift the arms embargo, imposed against the country in 1992.
"Somalia is committed to the full implementation of the Security Transition Plan and to taking over full security responsibility once ATM [African Union Transitional Mission] forces depart in December 2024. I would like to reiterate Somalia's call for full and unconditional removal of the arms embargo that has been imposed by the [UN] Security Council since 1992. It is the longest-lasting, widest and most comprehensive arms embargo in the world," Abdi Barre said.
He said Somalia now had all necessary administrative institutions which are "strict in controlling possession, use and storage of firearms."
"Lifting this embargo would allow us to combat terrorism more effectively and build a peaceful and prosperous future for our people," Somalia's prime minister said. Somalia has been embroiled in a series of bloody civil conflicts since the early 1990s, with the African country witnessing the deployment of a series of UN and African Union peacekeeping missions, in addition to stringent restrictions on the import of weapons under an international arms embargo.
Mohamed El-Amine Souef, chief of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), echoed calls to lift the embargo.
Source: Qatar Tribune