The President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has once again appealed to the United Nations to lift arms embargo imposed on his country three decades ago.
The embargo has been in effect since 1992. It was meant to cut off the flow of weapons to the country when its civil war broke out.
In November last year, the UN Security Council extended the embargo by one year citing the continued threat of the al-Shabaab armed group to the region's peace and stability.
At a joint press conference with the UN Secreatry General Antonio Guterres in Mogadishu on Tuesday, President Mohamud said “the embargo has been eased in the past. That helped a lot, and we are expecting the compete lifting in the near future as well.’’
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said his government has been working with other international partners in stabilization of areas liberated from Al Shabaab – an armed group the UN had described as “a serious threat to peace and security.”
He called on the UN to help in galvanising ‘’critical investment’’ to help residents of those areas because ‘’these people as our citizens have been denied the accessibility of civil services for a long time.” Somalia had no functioning government until 2012 due to lingering insecurity.
In his remarks, the UN chief Antonio Guterres called on the international community to support Somalia.
"I am here to ring the alarm on the need of massive international support because of the humanitarian difficulties the country is facing,” said Gutteres,
He added that “massive humanitarian support'' was needed to boost the security capacity of Somalia and ensure the development of the country.
Troops in an African Union Peacekeeping mission have been supporting Somalia tackle the threats of al-Shabaab and to strengthen the country's security forces.
