Politics

UN Security Council lifts 30-year-old arms ban on Somalia

Published

5 months ago

December 2, 2023

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has ended 31 years of armed restrictions on Somalia’s government forces, which prevented the country from upgrading its military.

The lifting of the arms embargo on Somalia allows the country to freely buy new weapons, as the council in New York voted 14-1 to do so, with France abstaining. Restrictions on the transfer of weapons or supplies to terrorists affiliated with Al Shabaab remain.

According to the council, the federal government may order and buy weapons from any legitimate retailer in the world. However, for the UN Sanctions Committee on Somalia to verify the weapons, it must provide a list of them.

A member of the council, China, faulted this conditional approval, telling the session that Somalia was being made to comply with a rule that many in the West were disobeying.

Somalia has been constrained by this UN decision amidst the country’s quest for lasting peace in the face of internal wranglings and terrorist activities. In September, Somalia asked the UN to pause a planned drawdown of 3,000 African Union peacekeepers for three months to allow its security forces time to regroup after a militant attack forced them to withdraw from several recently captured towns.

Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Abukar Osman, who addressed the Council, commended the move and noted that the lifting of the embargo would enable his government to equip the forces.

“It allows us to confront security threats, including those posed by Al Shabaab,” he said in a briefing to the Council, promising that his country would also reform the management of weapons to ensure they did not fall in the wrong hands.

In his official reaction, Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, stressed that “from now on, our country is free to purchase any sort of weapon we want from the world. Weapons in government hands will not pose a threat to our people and the world”.

“This decision comes at a very crucial time as a nation and people since we are in a war to eliminate Kharijites (Al Shabaab) from the country,” the National Intelligence and Security Agency said in a statement.

“It comes at a time when efforts are ongoing to form an army capable of taking on the general security responsibility of the country”, it added.

In January 1992, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Somalia. In February 2007, the embargo was amended to allow arms supplies to Somali Government Forces, but maintained a ban on sales to the country’s Islamist militants.

Related Topics:Featured Security Council Somalia United Nations

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Politics

Nigeria’s Senate wants capital punishment for drug trafficking

Published

6 hours ago

May 10, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Nigerian Senate has put forward a proposal to greatly increase the severity of punishments for drug trafficking. This would involve amending the legislation to make the death penalty the highest possible sentence.

The modification, pending legislation, substitutes life imprisonment, formerly the most severe penalty. Nigeria, the country with the highest population in Africa, over 200 million individuals, has experienced a significant shift in its role from only serving as a transit point for illicit narcotics to becoming a fully-fledged producer, user, and distributor.

One of Nigeria’s socialchallenges is the issue of illicit drug trafficking and usage. Illicit narcotics like as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, ephedrine, and psychotropic drugs, although primarily manufactured abroad, are in great demand and frequently misused by individuals from diverse social, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has reported that there is a significant prevalence of opioid misuse in Nigeria, particularly with tramadol and cough syrups that contain codeine. In response to this issue, the agency implemented a ban on the production and importation of codeine cough syrup in 2018.

Although cannabis is grown domestically, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other narcotics are smuggled into the country, along with opiates, to fuel an increasing addiction issue.

The legislation originated from a report given by Senator Mohammed Monguno during Thursday’s plenary session of the Senate committees on judiciary, human rights and legal concerns, and drugs and narcotics.

Some advocates contended that the prospect of capital punishment would function as a more potent deterrence for individuals involved in drug trafficking compared to being sentenced to life in prison.

Meanwhile, legislators who were against the proposal voiced apprehensions regarding the permanent nature of capital punishment and the potential for erroneous convictions.

The law was previously approved by the House of Representatives, however without including a provision for the death sentence. A group of five distinguished members from the Senate and House will be required to reconcile the two versions before it is presented to the president.

The proliferation of drug trafficking has reached an alarming magnitude, presenting a grave menace to both the safety of individuals and the security of nations, and some of its neighbours in the West African sub-region.

Politics

Mozambique: Ruling FRELIMO announces Chapo as presidential candidate

Published

3 days ago

May 7, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Daniel Chapo has announced that he will run for president in the October election on behalf of the ruling FRELIMO party in Mozambique.

Since achieving independence in 1975, FRELIMO has ruled the nation in southern Africa, and the party is hoping that Chapo can lead it to another win in the election on October 9.

“The soap opera of speculation is over, including speculation about the third term,” President Filipe Nyusi said on state television on Sunday, dismissing the prospect of contesting elections again.

“We must all unite around comrade Daniel Francisco Chapo, in the demanding march towards electoral victory next October,” Nyusi said.

The president of Mozambique is limited to two terms of five years by the constitution. Nevertheless, following his reelection as party leader in 2022, there had been conjecture in the media that Nyusi may run for a third term.

Chapo, a relatively unknown person in national politics, is the governor of the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique. As to the party announcement, he secured 225 votes (about 94%) from the central committee of the party.

“We are going to work with all social strata,” Chapo said on television after his win.

Chapo, a former radio host, was born in 1977, making him the first candidate for FRELIMO to be born since the nation gained its independence.

He has served in many governmental capacities, most notably as an administrator of the districts of Nacala and Palma. He also has a master’s degree in development management and a law degree.